The Outcasts
by DeathscytheVII
Summary: A story of the Brotherhood Outcasts, and their fight for survival and victory in the harsh Capital Wasteland. Involves all outcast characters  i.e Casdin, Sibley, Anne Marie etc...
1. Chapter 1 : The Outcasts

"Always remember the fires that we were forged in. Those who forget are lost." - Outcast Motto

**Chapter 1: The Outcasts**

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Protector Fitts raised his arm in front of his visor, temporarily providing his eyes some relief from the raging sun. The Capital Wasteland was especially hot today, unsurprisingly. The great war and the resulting nuclear fallout had reduced the entire lush, formerly green Potomac region of Maryland into a barren, dry irradiated desert. The lush green trees replaced by burnt out hollowed trunks. What made this inhospitable wasteland even hotter was traversing said wasteland wearing heavy full body power armor as well as carrying a full complement of heavy weaponry. The power armor was a life saver on many occasions, being made from a combination of riveted steel plating and plastic composite material that could stop almost any bullet. But out here in the summer heat, it was the equivalent of walking in a baking oven.

The remaining three members of his patrol took the brief reprieve enthusiastically, one leaning against a boulder and another checking his weapons. But none of them dared let their guard down. This was the wasteland after all, where raiders, Yao Guai, and death were a daily companion. They too, were particularly drawn to people who stood out and walking around in power armor would qualify as putting a big 'I have shit you can steal' sign on them. Many a folk would usually leave them alone, intimidated by the heavy weaponry and uninviting glares, but then again, wastelanders and raiders weren't generally known for their smarts. They too, looked different from normal paladins, unlike the normal Brotherhood soldiers, the Outcasts had painted their power armor with a combination of black and crimson.

"Should be another day, then we'll make Fairfax ruins." Fitts said to his squad mate, they had made good time from their scavenging mission at Fort Constantine, taking great care to bypass the Raider stronghold at Evergreen Mills. "Farsight, you take point, be on the lookout for any raider activity."

"Sir," Defender Farsight, the team sniper, was the only female in the group, and her filtered mechanical voice through the helmet radio was the one of two things that distinguished her from the other soldiers. The other thing that distinguished her was the modified DKS-501 Sniper rifle she carried on her back. Though soft-spoken, she was quietly respected as the best shot in the Outcasts, able to pick off the eyeball of a bloatfly from five hundred yards.

"Kesler, Colt, back Farsight up. Remember, our objective is to provide support for the upcoming fight. We should proceed cautiously, no need to get into needless battles and waste ammunition. I want us to be able to make it back to support our brothers in one piece." Fitts reminded his other two squad mates.

"Will do sir." Defender Colt, the heavy weapons specialist in his squad, armed with a rare pre-war gatling laser, smirked his acknowledgment. Kesler, the special ops of the group, nodded quietly. Both men had known him for years, having fought with him under Lyons as the Brotherhood began their journey eastwards from the core region. While Colt was perhaps a little too lax and easy going for his liking, he was up to the task when duty called. Kesler himself was always the quiet brooding type, probably came with having to do the messy tasks in Spec ops.

Together, the four person squad constituted the biggest Outcast presence west of the DC area, which in itself, spoke of the numerous manpower issues the Outcasts had. But then again, numbers in battle were never a concern for the outcasts. Though they had been cast out by their former brothers operating in D.C, they were hard as steel; each and every one of them. They were a special elite, ones who had not forgotten the true sacred quest of the Brotherhood of Steel that Elder Lyons had so foolishly forgotten. Though his Capital Wasteland Faction of the Brotherhood of Steel boasted more numbers by recruiting from the local tribals, the Outcasts were the true knights, equipped with the latest in technology and training and armed with a devotion that more than made up for their lack of numbers. Of course, that also meant that every member of the Outcasts had to pull twice their weight to make up for it.

Recently, the raiders in the old Fairfax ruins had been getting a little too active for their own good, probing the Outcast defense lines around Fort Independence, their main base of operations and headquarters. They were testing the Outcast sentries every other day or so, a few pop shots here, maybe a lone raider challenging the guards there, all to see how close they could get while the regular patrols were out scouring the wastes for lost tech. The Outcast Protector and leader, Henry Casdin, ever the pragmatist, had suspected the raiders were either too stupid to leave well enough alone or were too tempted by the technology that was hidden in Fort Independence. Either way, it was obvious that they were readying for an attack, and logically, Casdin wanted to fight back. But first, all Outcast patrols in the area, from Megaton to Fort Constantine, had to be recalled back to home base for the final preparations.

And that was what brought Fitts and his little band across miles of empty wasteland on this hot summer day, to kill some raiders and go back to patrolling.

With that happy thought in mind, Fitts nodded to his team.

"Let's go, we have plenty of ground to cover." Kesler and Colt stiffled their groans as they lifted their heavy weapons, beginning the journey once again.

The four man squad moved swiftly through the rocks and cliffs past Evergreen mills, an old pre-war steel mill and train yard that was now converted into a Raider strong hold. Fitts watched with as he saw the raiders, sporting their tattered armor and scrap weapons herding a bunch of wastelanders into cages. Others were being shot out of either cruelty or sport while several undistinguishable screams erupted from the run down shacks.

Fitts grunted his disgust. Unable to do anything, but at the same time, it was none of their business. So long as they left the Outcasts alone, they could care less about how these locals tore themselves apart.

Besides, it wasn't like he could call for back up. Lack of good radio equipment and long range communications usually meant that outcasts patrols would operate without contact from Fort Independence for days, perhaps weeks on end while they traveled the Capital Wasteland in search of technologies. The only means of long distance communication the Outcasts had was the broadcast a message on the emergency radio frequency, but the only equipment to transmit messages was at Fort Independence and the Outpost, their own short range radios could receive the message but they would never be able to get the message back to HQ or to other squads.

Fitts checked his gear again, replaying the message as it looped over and over.

_"This is protector Casdin calling all Outcasts. We are expecting heavy raider activity very soon. Rendezvous at Fort Independence within the week, then we will strike. This message repeats."_

"Sir. I got something." Farsight raised her arm, signaling the rest of the column to halt behind a sprawl of boulders. Fitt's went ahead to Farsight quietly, crouching down and scanning the horizon with his pre-war binoculars.

"We got ourselves a Super Mutant patrol." Defender Farsight remarked. "Perhaps five hundred yards off. They haven't spotted us yet, but they are heading towards us."

Fitts nodded as he appraised Farsight's report. Ahead of him, he saw clearly through the tinted binoculars. A patrol of five super mutants and a centaur. Each Mutant was hideously green-skinned, at least ten feet tall and bulked with muscle. He saw their makeshift armor as well, which looked like a combination of scrap metal and used car parts. Each mutant was armed with a .32 caliber hunting rifle. The centaur was even more disgusting. Some sort of Chimera-like creature, basically what you would get if you threw a human, mole rat, dog and any other messed up animal into a blender. They served as a kind of guard dog for the muties.

"Looks like they got some locals in tow as well." Defender Colt said as he pulled up next to Fitts.

Fitts scanned the super mutant patrol again, noticing two terrified wastelanders being pulled along. Each of them having their wrists tied together by rope. One man and one woman. Fitts suspected that there were initially more, but the mutants got hungry on the way.

"Should we assist?" Defender Kesler said calmly through his radio, in a tone that implied he did not care either way.

Fitts nodded, bringing up his plasma rifle and giving the microfusion power cell a check. "Fastest way back to Independence is through them, and it ain't worth it circling around them. Will cost us hours." He turned back towards his squad. "Any objections?"

"Hell sir, i'm just glad to be shooting at something." Defender Colt smirked, lifting up his Gatling laser cannon.

"We'll do this quickly. Efficiently." Fitts replied. "Farsight, I want you to set up a position by those bushes, take out the mutants with the Melee weapons. Colt and I will set up a field of fire from the South. Kesler, you're spotting Farsight."

"Sir." Kesler said flatly as he pulled out his laser rifle.

Fitts and Colt nodded at each other, then ran pell mell through the boulder fields near the mutant patrol. Sweat glistened in their helmets as they covered the distance in their heavy gear, but experience and training had taught them to ignore the discomforts long ago.

"I have them in range." Farsight said as she communicated through their short distance radios built into the power armor helmets.

Fitts took one last look at Colt as he checked his weapons. Re-adjusting the fusion battery so that it would not jam, or worse, explode during the fight. He nodded back towards the Protector.

"Take the shot."

* * *

The Super Mutant squad rambled clumsily through the wasteland, carrying their assortment of antique hunting rifles and sledgehammers. Resembling a rustic orc raiding party.

"So. You bored?" One of the super mutants grunted towards the leader, a tall brute in heavier scrap armor, most likely stripped from a car, and a crested helmet.

"What you up to?" The Mutant grunted to the Brute, who snarled in irritation.

"Something fun? Something to eat? ME BORED!" The super mutant groaned as he towed the two terrified humans along.

It did not take long for the Brute to run out of patience. "Why you care? You human or something?" The super mutant gave a dumbfounded 'HUH' in response.

The Brute sighed. "Never mind! You too dumb to talk to! If you're bored. Eat the humans."

A small rumble in the distance caused the brute to look forward, which barely gave him enough time to see the armor piercing round going straight through his skull, splattering his skull into a cloud of blood and flesh. Just as the Brute's body went limp and fell, another shot fired, this one ripping off the arm of the joking Super-Mutant.

"PAAAAIN...HUURRT!" The monster roared, taking out it's sledgehammer and scanning the horizon for enemies.

"GRRR. Come out humans!" The three other super mutants took out their rifles, angered at being ambushed by such weak creatures. Who dared attack them? They grunted as they shot wildly in the direction of Farsight. The Sledgehammer wielding mutant managed a few more steps towards the Outcast sniper position before having his head blown off.

"You're clear to go." Farsight echoed through he radio.

A wall of laser fire erupted to the Mutant's left, severing the legs of another super mutant, who fell forward in a roaring incoherent scream. The remaining mutants swung southward towards their new foes. Two Outcast defenders, one armed with a Gatling laser and another with a laser rifle.

"Enough games!" One of the mutants roared, another Brute, this one armed with an antiquated minigun, old and probably rusty, it still had the power to shower the Outcasts with an unhealthy dose of 5mm rounds. Colt saw the threat, instantly shifting his gatling laser towards the new foe.

Fitts however, pulled Colt down behind the rock, and a split second later, slabs of stone were shot off as two rifle shots found their mark at the spot Colt had previously occupied.

"Be careful out there Defender." Fitts said, before snapping up his plasma rifle and letting loose three well placed plasma bolts at the nearest Super Mutant. The gigantic opponent seemed to recoil back at each blast, plasma bolts easily melting through the scrap metal armor the mutants wore and burning their thick green flesh. The monster roared in pain, but Fitts put him out of his misery, sending another shot straight into his head which quickly engulfed his body, turning it into a glowy green color before completely dissolving into a puddle of green gunk.

The last standing Brute immediately lit up the boulder that Fitts and Colt took cover behind, but by then Kesler had enough time to flank the Mutants from behind. He cocked his combat shotgun, blowing the brains out of the monstrous centaur as it lashed out its tongue at him. Before the Centaur even fell to the ground, Kesler was on the Mutant, digging his combat knife into the Brute which caused the monster to roar in pain, dropping its minigun and trying desperately to get the Outcast off his neck. Kesler twisted the knife, feeling his whole body being lifted into the air. But with his free hand, he brought the combat shotgun to bear on the Mutant's kneecaps, blasting them off and forcing the monster to the ground. Another quick twist of the knife brought a sickening crack in the Mutant's spine, and the monster's body soon went limp.

"Subject down." Kesler said through his mechanical filtered helmet.

Fitts, nodded, and soon, the remaining three outcasts rejoining the position where four fresh Mutant corpses now lay.

"Kesler, Colt, strip these muties of their ammo, and any useful weapons." The Protector then nodded to Farsight. "See to the prisoners."

The two Defenders then began the not-so-fun task of stripping the Super muties of anything useful. But not before they double tapped the ones with intact heads, just to be safe. The Brute that Kesler took down was still gurgling on his own blood until the Outcasts put it out of its misery.

Farsight, taking Kesler's combat knife, had already slit the bonds off the two wastelanders.

The two dishevelled wastelanders blinked at their saviours, as if they couldnt' believe their eyes. Just five minutes ago, they were pretty sure they were going to die horrifically, either by being eaten alive or turned into one of the super mutants.

"We owe you a lot stranger, I can't thank you enough." One of the wastelanders said to Fitts.

The Outcast gave the Wastelander a cold glare which quickly shut them up nervously.

"Don't thank me local. You just happened to be along our way. Now get moving." Fitts motioned his head towards the general direction of Megaton, at least a days walk away.

"But to where sir? We won't last five minutes out there without weapons." The woman protested.

"Not my business." Fitts said coldly. "We'll leave you with whatever gear we don't need from the Muties, may be some rifles and irradiated water. But you're on your own. Megaton is at least ten clicks that east of here. You can manage. Now scram."

The wastelander nodded slightly in thanks. By wasteland standards, at least what they were doing kinda qualified as kindness. For one thing, they didn't get shot.

* * *

Protector Henry Casdin watched with some satisfaction as more of his black armored Outcasts made their way into Fort Independence. By now, the signal had been broadcasting for five days, he expected the rest of the Outcasts patrols to make their way back to the fort within the next day. That would give him one day to train them for the upcoming battle, and enough time to brief all of his men. This would have been the first time since the schism when they all stood together as one. Quiet pride flowed through him as he saw the veterans of Protector McGraw's Outpost unit march into camp, six members in total. While Defender Rococo Rockfowl began training the men and women, putting them back to shape for their next offensive.

Henry had always prided himself as a no-nonsense soldier, a pragmatist. One who could be counted on to make maximum possible use of the limited resources he had on hand. That was perhaps what made him most qualified to lead the outcasts, since the entire organization lived around the concept of scarcity. Scarcity of resources, of manpower, of technology. The Brotherhood already had enough manpower problems when they marched east from the Core region, but whatever manpower problems Lyons had was nothing compared to what Casdin faced. For one thing, he didn't allow every rock-throwing neanderthal that wanted to wear power armor into his ranks, the Outcasts did not recruit, except from former Brotherhood soldiers who had seen the error of Lyon's ways. While that was fine and dandy, and kept the whole group focused and pure. It also meant they were a lot smaller, as well as a lot shorter on equipment and ammunition. That was why it was important to him to safeguard his assets, keep them close, and to make best possible use of his soldiers.

He still remembered the disagreements with his former comrade, now Elder Lyons. He was a fighter once, just as pragmatic and loyal to the cause as he was, but something changed along the way. Maybe it was all those refugees they picked up in the Pitt after they had scourged it of raiders, but the old man went soft. He turned his back on the entire mission of the Brotherhood, instead wasting his time protecting the savages and locals of the wastes. Casdin did not agree with that, did not like it when good, well-trained Brotherhood soldiers died protecting useless towns and locals. Lyons believed that he was seeing the bigger picture, but what bigger picture is there than the preservation and salvaging of technology that would lift all of the human race up?

For that belief, he and his men were branded outcasts. That didn't bother Henry though, the status as an outcast was a mark of pride. It meant that they disavowed the blasphemous ways of the 'new' Brotherhood. He kept the name Outcasts to remind everyone of this division and the fact that they were working to finish the mission Lyons had originally been trusted with. So that when they return to the West, he can show their Elders Lyons' betrayal and have his and his follower's place reinstated to the glorious ranks of the Brotherhood, and have Lyons punished for his actions.

"Protector Casdin." Henry turned to his left and saw a woman in Brotherhood scribes robes walk up to him. She was middle aged, with light blonde hair done in a very conservative cut.

"Specialist Olin, I am glad that you have joined us. Tell me, how goes the salvaging operation?"

Olin was perhaps one of the few scribes to desert the Brotherhood, and for that act of courage, Henry made sure everyone had shown her the utmost respect.

"We've managed to set up operations within the facility," Olin rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. "but at the moment, McGraw's men are unable to break through the reinforced doors. It seems that it won't unlock until we can complete the anchorage simulation, but we do not have the materials necessary to even attempt that."

Henry Casdin took a second to contemplate this, and nodded. Considering that they've spent months trying to dig into the old bunker, Casdin consider this some progress. "Keep up the good work Olin, if there is one thing we have here, it is time. I will send you Morrill's squad as well. Perhaps the extra manpower can help you scour the ruins for more tech that may help us. We'll have to tread carefully."

Elin nodded uneasily, this meant too, that there was a chance they would bump into their old former comrades of the Brotherhood of Steel. There was an unspoken agreement that the DC urban area was their territory, and Casdin reluctantly had to agree that the Outcasts had neither the manpower or resources to challenge them for the downtown core just yet.

"But for now, we have more pressing concerns." Casdin turned to his second in command at Fort Independence, Defender Anne Marie Morgan, who saluted as she walked up to the two.

"Sir, the last squads are reporting in. I have Morril and Sibley's men in line, all that we're missing is Fitts."

Casdin nodded. "Fitts was sent to Fort Constantine some time ago to retrieve some technology, he is the furthest from us. But I expect we'll see him at first light. Until then, keep the men training. I want to be ready to move into Fairfax within two days."

"At once Protector." Anne Marie saluted, then went back to training the men.

* * *

I think I fell in love with Fallout. I honestly have not heard of Fallout or the series until a year ago, when my friend gave me a copy of Fallout 3. It is one of the most in depth game universes i've ever seen, and the perfect one to write a fanfic in :) This is my first time in awhile writing a fanfic like this, so please forgive any mistakes I do make in regards to grammar, or just general fallout lore (Self proclaimed Fallout Noob! =)) but i really enjoyed the universe so much i figure i'll write this in my spare time.

As for a favourite faction. Can you guess? :) At first, i loved the Brotherhood, but then I explored some more and found the awesome outcasts. Something about their lone wolf, go **** yourself attitude just appeals to me. Of course, that and their badass black and red power armor XD I'd hang out around their outpost more if Casdin didn't threaten to strip me of my well earned Outcast armor everytime i talked to him lol.

There won't be a consistent update time, since it will depend on how much free time i have as well as the amount of will and patience I happen to have when I write. But this is free, and fun :) so enjoy the ride! I've never written any fics that involve squad based combat, or even combat involving guns in general, so this will be great practice as well!


	2. Chapter 2: Killer's Edge

"Got bored. His Turn." - Anonymous graffiti found on a sign near a dead raider hanging from a lamp post in Fairfax ruins

**Chapter 2 : Killer's Edge**

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Fitts tinkered with his helmet radio as the squad neared Fort Independence. For hours on end he and his men had been listening in on Enclave radio. Partly for intelligence, but mainly to get some amusement out of that wack job President Eden.

"..._ Criminals, who have had the audacity to claim this country's most important military installation, the Pentagon, as their own personal club house...don't be fooled America, those who have left the Brotherhood of Steel, branded Outcasts, are just as dangerous. Even more so, being in exile." _Damn straight, Fitts chuckled, coming from the Enclave, the most heavily armed group in the wastelands, that was a compliment.

As they reached the entrance, the rusty chain link gates squeaked open and Fitts led his rag tag squad back to the Outcast HQ. Above the Bridge, defender Rococo Rockfowl nodded a silent greeting to the team as they passed beneath the automatic defense turrets. Fitts had always wondered about the story behind Rockfowl's interesting name, but he knew better than to bring it up in front of him while he was wielding a gatling laser.

Fort Independence itself was a fort in name only. He did not know what purpose it served pre-war, perhaps an office building, or a tech warehouse, but it was certainly was not as heavily fortified or defensible as its name suggested. It was like a shack compared to the steel girder fortifications of the Citadel. Casdin and the rest of the Outcasts had a field day converting it into a semi-defendable fortress, with piled rubble and steel to block unnecessary entrances, while automated turrets and robots kept a watchful eye. Despite all the precautions, it was still vulnerable to attacks from Raiders operating in Fairfax, which was part of the reason Fitts suspected Casdin wanted to finally attempt to retake the town ruins for the Outcasts.

And now, gathered today in the courtyard of Fort Independence, were about thirty well trained power armored soldiers. This accounted for almost all of the attack power of the Outcasts in one courtyard, one well placed Fat Man would have wiped them off the face of the earth. It was a miracle too, considering how much ground they had to cover together. Fitts also noticed a few missing faces among the tragic few that stood to attention in the courtyard. With such a small group of friends and comrades, it was all too easy to know who had fallen in battle.

The hydraulics of Fitt's power helmet hissed as he took it off, revealing his short beard and semi-ragged features, evidence of the weeks of work and recon they did in the field. He and his men would have to get themselves cleaned up after this operation.

"Well, look at what the wastes spat out." A irritating guttural voice sounded from one of the Outcasts. Fitts turned and saw Defender Sibley, a middle-aged, African American Outcast with a regular army issue buzz cut, and a healthy reputation for being the obligatory company asshole.

"Thought some Yao Guai might have eaten you and your crew up, well you can worry no longer, me and my boys are here now to save your sorry hides."

Fitts sighed inwardly. The Outcasts as a whole were a close, tight knit unit, almost like family, Sibley was just the person in these kinds of groups who always enjoyed starting a conflict to prove who was the alpha male, only Henry Casdin was able to fully bring him into line, and even then it was pushing it.

While many others would not bother getting into knocking heads with the likes of Sibley, preferring to just remain quiet and hope he would go away, Fitts was not going to sit back and take the insult to his squad.

Fitts turned around, shouting at Defender Colt who was still across the street before the Bridge entrance.

"Hey Colt, Defender Sibley says we shouldn't worry now that he's here." he lifted his hand up to his ear, feigning interest. "What's that? You don't give a flying fuck either? Neither do I, nor the rest out the Squad."

The creases on Defender Sibley's face formed ridges that could have been compared to the grand canyon, without uttering another word, the Defender went off to join his own squad.

"Never a dull moment Protector Fitts?" Fitts turned to see Protect Henry Casdin extend his hand to him. The Outcast leader was a heavy-set man, noticable even in power armor. This was also one of the rare times he did not wear his power armor, revealing a middle aged bald face, hardened and scarred by years of combat experience in the desert. Fitts however instinctively stood at attention, saluting the Outcast leader.

"All in a day's work sir." Fitts smirked inside his power helmet, saluting the Protector. Technically Casdin was the same rank as Fitts, being a protector himself, and that was one aspect of the Outcasts he liked, that all squad leaders were equals. The Brotherhood had so many formalized bureaucratic ranks of Knights, Paladins, and Initiates and orders, that it was easy to forget the most basic asset of a team, trust and respect. Casdin was a Protector, just like his fellow squad leaders, but they trusted him to lead them in battle, in the dirt along with the lowest soldier, and he in turn, trusted his own men with his life. Elder Lyons may command that level of respect and awe amongst some of his soldiers, but Casdin had that for every man in his unit.

"At ease soldier," Casdin waved down Fitt's and his squad's salutes. "Good to see you all here in one piece. Report, how did the mission to Fort Constantine go?"

Fitts shook his head slightly just as he saw the rest of his squad pull up next to him. Farsight carrying the rusty minigun that she pulled off the dead mutant on the way here. "Not good sir, we found the place abandoned save for an army of Sentry bots, Gutsys and Robobrains. To be honest sir, we didn't have the firepower to infiltrate the fort, we fought our way to the personnel offices but the bomb storage bunker was sealed shut, several levels of security and reinforced doors. We barely managed to fight our way there before we heard the signal broadcast."

Casdin took the report in briefly, two salvage missions that came up with nothing in a week was hardly good news, but that would have to wait, right now they had more pressing issues. "You did good Fitts, more than I could ever ask of you and your men. I would much rather prefer having your squad intact than having you risk your lives in a needless battle. We all knew what we were getting into when we started this operation a year ago, we always knew first steps are always the hardest, but it will all pay off. For now, let's focus on the matter at hand."

Henry began to brief him up on the situation. And before Fitts knew it, all the major squad leaders of the Outcasts had gathered to where they were standing. Morrill, McGraw, Morgan, and Rockfowl.

"This is about the Raiders I presume sir?" Fitts gestured his squad to stand at ease, and Farsight, Colt and Kesler took the opportunity to mingle in with the other outcasts in the courtyard.

Casdin then nodded at his fellow squad leaders respectively, even as Casdin continued the briefing.

"Their attacks are getting worse. Rockfowl had to chase a few raiders back across the bridge yesterday. We've managed to capture a prisoner and interrogate him, but he gave us nothing in terms of intel. Still, all signs point to them mounting a full scale attack within the next few days."

"It's about time we moved against them I think." Rockfowl replied. "We've tolerated them setting up shop next to us for far too long."

"Agreed," Defender Morgan offered her appraisal of the situation. "As long as we leave them alone, it'll be a breeding ground for those animals. They have the numbers though, my scouting parties estimate we're facing maybe fifty or more, including the ones holing up inside the utility tunnels of the old subway."

Casdin took a while to digest the information in. "Well armed?"

"Antiquated rifles and handguns, but we've seen some equipped with old rocket launchers and flamers. Caution is advisable." Rockfowl spouted off the facts as though he had been running this battle through his head the past week, not letting a single detail escape. Fitts liked that about the defender, aside from being a good leader, he was a professional soldier through and through.

"What do you think they are after?" Fitts asked.

"No clue," Casdin remarked. "Perhaps they saw our numbers and our tech and got greedy. We've also caught a few raiders try to infiltrate the Fort; Fact that they're still trying seems to indicate an intelligence leak, or they've been scouting us for some time." Casdin said the last part distinctly, as though he contemplated the former theory but tossed that aside. None of his men would stoop so low as to sell them out to these rejects of humanity.

"Regardless, our number one priority is to protect the research team. I'll detail a third of our men to base defense while the rest of the squads begin the occupation of Fairfax. Morgan, you're in charge of independence. Take J.T's team and set up a defensive perimeter. I want our scientists and specialists kept in the bunker during our operations."

"Yes, Protector." Morgan nodded.

"I'll have the Wraiths clear out the Utility tunnels and metro. Four squads to occupy the surface fortifications. Fitts, McGraw, Morrill and Rockfowl. That'll give us sixteen operating on the surface, four below. Understand? I want this to be a thorough sweep. Leave no raider alive. We move in tonight."

That got the rest of the leaders' attentions. They were expecting an attack one or two days later, but to move so quickly, before they had time to fully prep the men, but each of them understood Casdin's reasoning. With so many numbers against them, the element of surprise didn't work. It was obvious the raiders were expecting some kind of heavy activity in the next few days, they sure as well did not expect an attack within the next few hours, in the blackness of night.

"Get to work people, we're moving out in four hours." Casdin nodded to his men,the hiss of hydraulics and clicking machinery sounded off as his face became obscured once again by the power armor helmet.

"In Steel's name." The rest of the outcasts saluted Casdin, then went off to their separate squads.

* * *

Hours passed as the sun vanished over the horizon, turning the sky from an ominous crimson red to the chilled black of night. Distant roars and guttural screeches in the distance meant that the Yao Guai and Deathclaws were on the hunt, eager to devour any fools dumb enough to venture the wastes. It was this time when the inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland would huddle in their squalid shelters. Megaton would close its iron gates, their residents nervously sliding into bed, thanking god that the dangers of the wasteland were beyond them. Even far away Rivet City, a trader colony set up on the ruins of an old aircraft carrier, would shut down completely, save for a detail of guards that kept a vigilant watch on the only overland access bridge into town.

In the ruins of Fairfax, among the dozens of scrapped cars and deserted, decaying office buildings, the sounds of laughter, metal scrapping on metal, and the occasional screams filled the air, which were all normal occurences at any raider camp. Although the night was chilled, the raider encampment was warmed by the dozens of flaming barrels, the heat offering some reprieve from the harshness of the wastelands, while light served for tonight's entertainment.

"Don't flinch you coward!" The first raider yelled, pummeling the new recruit with a bloodied baseball bat. A sickening crack resounded, and a splash of blood landed on the street as the raider, stripped to his underwear, tried valiantly to get back up again. Surrounding him, were at least five other raiders, each one carrying a melee weapon in varying degrees of sharpness and bluntness.

The beaten raider wailed, something stuck between a cry for mercy and a hysterical laugh. He was bleeding profusely from his face, his nose already broken, but the jet had taken effect, and he laughed, even as every bone in his body was nearing the breaking point.

"Are you gonna cry? Come on! Cry for me!" Another raider stepped forward, wearing painspike armor and wielding a lead pipe. Just as the hazed raider sloppily got to his feet, another swing of the arm sent the bruised and battered recruit tumbling back down to the floor.

"Love the pain, embrace the pain!" The lead pipe wielding raider slapped his knees, laughing hysterically before passing it off to another raider wielding a nail board. Another slap of metal on flesh brought more hysterical laughters from the group.

Two other raiders sat quietly in front of the cruel display, huddling by the barrel fire.

"Mmmmmmm, whaddaya think Mikey? This one too weak?" The female raider, sporting a scantily clad type of armor, cuddled next to the ringleader, whilst running her fingers up and down his thigh, both had crude tattoos of snakes on their shoulders.

"It won't matter a bit tomorrow Tala." The raider leader smirked. "We'll need all the bodies we can throw against the damn Brotherhood." Mikey, clad in heavy metal armor, tossed another piece of molerat meat into the fire. He had been planning the battle for some time now, sending out gangs of men to round up any able bodied raider or mercenary they could find. Soon, his Vipers would be able to set up a permanent base in Fairfax, even give the dumbasses at Evergreen Mills or that prick Eulogy Jones a run for his money.

"Of course...but once we get all the tech that the Brotherhood has been hiding away. No one will be able to stop our gang, no one will be able to stop us..." Tala smiled seductively, leaning her head against his shoulder. Mikey sighed, having grown bored of the girl already. He made a mental note to 'replace' her once he and the Vipers set up shop in the Brotherhood base.

Mikey grunted to the visitor in front of him, a grim faced but well built man in black combat armor, A white raven's claw etched on his torso.

"You just make sure your Talons are up to the job Clifton, remember the bargain." Mikey said.

"Right, you get the supplies, weapons and ammo, but we get the power armor." Sergeant Clifton said as he took another bite out of his mole rat meat. God knows why Commander Jabsco sent them out to cooperate with these animals, but he supposed having more meat to throw into the grinder wouldn't hurt. There were three factions in the Capital Wasteland that had power armor. The Brotherhood of Steel, who were too powerful to confront in their Citadel. The Enclave, who had even more advanced technology than the Brotherhood, and thus were more dangerous, and the outnumbered and outgunned Outcasts. The choice was obvious. He had secretly been feeding the raiders information on the Brotherhood base in the area, some real, some pure imagination, saying it was full of weapons that could help them dominate the area. He had been hoping goad these idiots into an attack, so far it worked beyond all expectations.

"We attack as planned?" Mikey grunted.

"Yes," Sergeant Clifton nodded. "Your guys attack head on in the morning, while my Talons circle around back and infiltrate their defenses." He had brought a company of fifteen men with him on this mission, at least three times the size of a normal Talon patrol, but when dealing with the Brotherhood, having extra guns was a necessity.

"Good, just as planned." The raider laughed, tossing a bottle of beer towards the Talon. "Now let's get-"

A faint rumble erupted from the distance, followed by ground shaking tremors as several explosions shattered the raider encampment. Pre-war cars were thrown into the air, along with bodies and burning debris. Seconds later, a wall of bullets, explosives and laser fire erupted from the west entrances, cutting down and frying the unfortunate raiders that stood guard.

"What the fuck?" Mikey quickly stood up, while Sergeant Clifton quickly picked up an assault rifle, while the raiders around town quickly stirred.

"Fire! Fire!" Dozens of raiders ran in every direction to battle, while the night quickly became bathed in the eerie light of gunfire.

* * *

"Outcasts! Advance and purify!" Defender Morrill shouted as his squad broke cover and advanced. Black armored shapes emerged from the bridge leading to Fort Independence and the surrounding highway, their legs pumping under the power armor and fingers gripped tightly on their weapons. The raiders let loss a barrage of defensive fire from their ragged shelters, a combination of assault rifles and pistols. Slabs of concrete and asphalt shot up as bullets ricocheted around them, some shots hit the outcasts, bouncing off their power armor with a harmless _'ping' _at that distance.

"Come on you Brotherhood bastards!" The raider shouted hysterically as he fired off his assault rifle, fear rampant in his voice. "Come get so-" A volley of gatling laser fire ripped apart the man's body, as well as the car three other raiders were hiding behind. The ground shook as the microfusion cell within the vehicle exploded, pulverizing the raiders into sacks of bloody gore. The bodies barely had time to hit the ground before the Outcasts moved again. They were doing the job methodically, moving in four teams of three man squads, each one covering the last as they slipped ahead, only stopping once they reached appropriate cover.

It was a good call, he thought, that Casdin had ordered the attack, forcing the Outcasts on the offensive. The raider's weren't expecting a full scale attack this early, let alone at night.

Morrill paused as he and his squad ducked behind the entrance way to Fairfax, a small uphill road flanked by metal shelters and two overlooking ledges. Explosions shook the ground as the raiders used grenades whilst firing from the makeshift barricade. Morrill found himself thrown back as a raider grenade exploded just feet in front of him, his power armor took the brunt of it, being riddled with shrapnel and concrete bits but it still felt like being thrown clear by a hit from a truck.

"This is Morrill." Morrill grunted through the pain, some blood dripping from his side but otherwise he was fine. He instinctively flinched as an assault rifle round pierced the concrete slab just inches from his face, causing him to quickly crouched down. "We're at the entrance way but we're pinned down."

"This is Casdin, i'm bringing up the rest of the pack. Casualty report?"

Morrill took a quick look at his two other troops, their power armor battle scarred with bullet holes and dents, but they nodded quietly.

"A few light wounds. But we'll manage."

"Good" Casdin remarked through the radio as he shot a downed raider in the skull, ending the man's final agonies. "I'm bringing Fitts and Rockfowl up. We'll take them in the flank."

Casdin himself was armed with a pre-war assault rifle, that was one of the reasons he was so respected. He could have opted for the gatling lasers or microfusion cell laser rifles, but Casdin would die first before he would shortchanged one of his own men of life saving equipment.

Casdin and his men paused at the intersection, scanning the raider positions up ahead. He frowned as he saw the display of cadavers hanging from the street lamp posts and doorways. The stench of putrid rotting flesh hung in the air.

At least a dozen raiders were taking shelter on the ledges overlooking the main entrance into fairfax. He suspected there were more in the tunnels, and he had already located the entrance way to the underground complex, an old pre-war sewer drain. He quickly turned to his right, where the four man specials ops squad waited. The Outcast "Wraiths" were known for their special operations skills, able to sneak in an infiltrate behind enemy lines. Each Wraith squad member had a tattered black cloak on top of their crimson and black power armor, to act as both camouflage for night operations, but to also denote them as a special elite within the Outcasts.

"Kesler, I'm detaching you from Fitt's squad for now. Take the Wraiths to the metro tunnels and clear it out. Spare no one."

"Sir." Defender Kesler nodded, sheathing his combat knife before bringing his infiltrator assault rifle to bear. It was a scoped, pre-war silenced assault rifle, perfect for covert operations behind enemy lines. Within seconds, he and his four man squad vanished into the utility tunnels.

Seconds after they were gone, Casdin saw movement, and he turned to see a raider in painspike armor aiming a combat shotgun his way. The man died quickly as he was scythed down by laser fire from Casdin's men. More raiders burst from the houses and alleyways, suicidally charging the Outcasts with antiquated Chinese pistols and swords.

Casdin quickly realized his squad was surrounded, and he dropped to one knee, aiming his rifle at the nearest raider while his fireteams' rifles blazed with laser and gun fire. Spouts of earth shot up and plaster and concrete slabs were chipped while raiders screamed and died. Some even went down laughing, hopped on Jet, Psycho and other hallucinagens. Casdin even saw that some of them were using needles full of epinephrine, pure adrenaline, able to keep their hearts pumping long after they've taken enough shots to be declared clinically dead. That meant they were in for a tougher fight then anticipated. Henry then let loose another burst of assault fire into the buildings, throwing on raider back in a fountain of blood.

Two more raiders were dragging a buddy back from the gunfire in an alleyway, accompanied by several Talon company mercs. The alley had been converted into a type of mini-hospital, already holding half a dozen wounded. Just as they were preparing to head out again, a black armored soldier smashed through one of the doorways, reducing it to splinters within seconds and appearing with a lit up flame nozzle.

"Need a light?"

Before the raiders could even drop their buddy and make a run for it. The entire alleyway lit up clear as day, flames danced, melting centuries old pre-war concrete and glass. Garbage cans became distorted and bent, the stinging screams of men being burned alive mixed in fluidly with the sweet smell of human flesh as the raiders and talons found their leather and metal armor literally melting into their burning bodies.

The Outcast took one second to appreciate his work, before proceeding to fill an entire house full of raiders with flame. Screams erupted from the shattered structure as the old woodwork collapsed, several burning bodies jumped out the window, shattering bones and skulls.

* * *

"Talons! Regroup!" Sergeant Clifton yelled furiously as his five remaining men quickly abandoned their position on the battle line. Five had already been burnt to death in that deathtrap of an alleyway. The other five dead, shot up in defending the northern approaches of the town. As the flames consumed the two story house, lighting up Fairfax almost clear as day, Clifton took time to assess the situation amidst the blazing gunfire that echoed in the night. Mikey had run off somewhere, good riddance, his raiders were turning out to be the perfect distraction. He had come here to procure some power armor, and in this confusion, all he needed was just one careless Brotherhood soldier. Bidding his time, he and his talons quickly vanished into the shadows.

More raiders ran down the street, some with weapons, others badly wounded but still in the fight. They fought with a courage that came only from desperation, knowing that if they surrendered, they would be killed, if they retreated, they would be hunted down and slaughtered. A squad of Outcasts, armed with miniguns, simply walked towards the Raider position, oblivious to the small arms fire that the raiders retaliated with. The miniguns lit up, scything down the raiders as it reduced the thin metal shelters they were hiding behind into Swiss cheese.

Fire shot from one of the buildings, and the Outcasts vanished in a cloud of flame as a rocket launcher landed right in the middle of the squad. One outcast was thrown back ten feet, plastering himself against a concrete wall. His visor shattered, letting loose a mixture of blood and machine oil.

The remaining raiders roared in celebration. Casdin's features hardened beneath his power helmet, and he grabbed one of the fallen Outcasts rifles.

The raider who fired the rocket gave the Outcasts in the street a one fingered salute. "You'll never take us alive! You'll-"

An armor piercing round quickly tore the raider's head off his shoulder, sending his body flying back several feet.

"Outcasts! on me! I want that intersection cleared now!"

"For Casdin!" The remaining eight outcasts in the intersection, including McGraw and Rockfowl, yelled as they charged once again into the intersection, gatling laser and rifles blazing. The dozen or so raiders remaining simply dropped their weapons and ran, almost all of them being shot down like rabbits.

* * *

Fitts and his squad were dumbfounded. They had just taken out a raider patrol and a company of Talon mercs on the Northern entrance into town, all of them shredded to pieces by Defender Colt's minigun. But one raider survived, crazed and frenzied by the Jet he had taken. Instead of running away for cover like any sane person, the half naked man simply laughed.

"What the fuck is that idiot doing?" Farsight whispered through the radio as she watched the idiot raider challenging an entire Outcast squad with only a chinese pistol. Whenever the raider managed a hit, the 10mm rounds simply bounced harmlessly off the chest plates of the squads armor. Farsight's fingers began tightening on the trigger, as though she were ready to end the moron.

"Aw, that guy is cute." Colt smirked as he brought up his rocket launcher, pressing a button that made a beeping sound. After that, A laser guided missile lanced out of the launcher tube, and the raider had barely a second to react before the entire section of the road he stood on lighted up, the explosion setting off several pre-war microfusion cars. The ground shook violently as the roar of the explosion shattered windows, blew off shack roofs and even knocked several raiders several feet back. The raider with the pistol simply vaporized on the spot.

Absolutely fucking beautiful.

Though Casdin may say it was a waste of ammunition, the rest of the squad quietly nodded their appreciation of the fact that Colt managed a direct hit on an individual target with an unwieldy missile launcher.

"Let's go." Fitts nodded, and soon, the rest of his squad took the raiders in the rear. More screams and gunshots echoed through the night.

* * *

Kesler and his three other men quietly crawled their way through the utility tunnels, a series of old pre-war metallic corridors. Steam pipes and metal latches littered the walls, along with several doors leading into a series of rooms.

Although he rarely looked forward to anything, he was enjoying this. Out of all the dangers in the Capital Wasteland, he had despised raiders the most. Though he had no love for Super Mutants , they were at least monsters, and he respected that fact. But raiders were human, human beings who were supposed to work together to survive in the harsh wastes. Instead, they chose to make the lives of everyone around them miserable, hunting down the weak, preying on the innocent, all to get to some sick twisted high. They were weak, cruel and cowardly. And he was going to make every one of them pay.

The professional in Kesler quickly took over as they heard voices nearby. Lifting his hand up, Kesler gestured his fingers towards the doors. Two of the Outcasts nodded, opening the door and quickly filling it with silenced gunshots. Seconds later, he heard sounds of bodies slumping and dropping onto the ground. Kesler repeated the same, opening the door where he heard two raiders chatting, a man and woman. As he opened the door, he caught the two raiders on a bed, eyes wide in surprise as they saw the power armored wraith standing before them. Two silenced bullets through their brains ensured that they saw nothing more and Kesler moved to clear the next few rooms with his squad.

As they moved down the corridor, Kesler raised his hand, signaling the squad to stop. Hidden underneath some rubbish, he spotted an old fragmentation mine. The raiders were smarter than he gave them credit for.

It took him a few minutes to disarm the trap, before the squad moved on.

Two more raiders were standing guard near the metro underground, one armed with an assault rifle and and the other with an axe.

They died swiftly and quietly. Kesler slipped behind the one with the rifle, crushing his jaw with a power armored fist as he dug the combat knife under the man's armpit, twisting it to cut the artery of veins just next to his heart. Kesler let the man slump down as he felt the warm wetness trickle down his fingers. The man with the axe barely had time to comprehend why the floor was rushing up so fast to meet his face.

The Wraiths continued onward towards the raider hideout, soon the metro tunnels were begiinning to brighten as they got closer to the flames.

Covered in black tattered cloaks and in their dark power armor in the darkness, they were literally invisible. The only light in the chamber came from the lit up barrels of fire from the Raider's main underground encampment. Nothing disturbed the tunnels, save for the quiet low rumbles of the battle taking place on the surface, loosing dust and silt from the ceiling.

"I'm tellin' ya Mikey! It's over! We gotta get out of here while we can!" A female voice echoed through the chamber.

"And I'm tellin' you to shut your trap you stupid whore! No way we're giving up this piece of real estate after all we've done to build it up. We still got them outnumbered. Me and the boys can hole up in here and fight them off. They have one entrance to squeeze through, and we've rigged it to blow." Though Mikey tried to hide it, Kesler caught a bit of panic in the leader's voice. He also made a quick note about what he mentioned about the tunnels.

Kesler and his men shuffled slowly, easing their way behind the raider barricades where they were well hidden from enemy eyes.

"That asshole Clifton disappeared on us too, but no need, if we're in luck, he and his men are eating up the Brotherhood's bullets." Mikey grinned as he cocked his combat shotgun, ten more raiders remained in the chamber, what the raider leader didn't know was that ten more were lying dead in the utilty tunnels behind them. Everyone was so busy preparing that none of them noticed the distinct clicking of a grenade pin being pulled.

An explosion shook the tunnels, and Mikey watched as one of his men simply disintegrated into bloody pieces. Two more were thrown back, impaled onto the metal spikes and barricades that they were using as cover. Before anyone else in the room could move, four black cloaked power armored figures emerged from the scrap heap inside their hideout.

Mikey's heart skipped a beat. "Brotherhood! Kill the-"

A laser shot lanced his shoulders, and Mikey spun around, falling into a pile of trash. The rest of the raiders opened fire, but they were quickly scythed down by Kesler's infiltrator. The raiders were essentially firing blind, since the silencers did not fire tracer rounds or blazed like a normal assault rifle. While every time the raiders fired, they revealed their positions.

Screams, bursts of light, and shadows of crumpled bodies filled the chamber.

"Fuck this!" One of the raiders yelled, dropping his rifle and making a bee line for the entrance.

"No you idiot! Come ba-" Both raiders vanished as the fleeing raider set off the trip wires, detonating the batch of grenades set above the entrance. The remaining raiders went down hard, Kesler blowing the brains out of another one who had tried to rush him with a lead pipe.

It was over in under a minute. The raider defense was soon reduced to a clump of corpses. Others were screaming, clutching their shot off legs and arms in pure agony.

The Outcasts slowly swept the room, shooting the raiders mercifully in the head and securing the area.

Kesler stopped as he saw another raider, a girl huddled up in a corner scantily-clad in painspike armor. A look of pure fear in her eyes. Even in the dark, Kesler noticed that she was shivering, already dropping the pistol helplessly on her side.

"Please...I surrender! Don't hurt me! I'm beggin ya! See? I'm not even armed" She threw her pistol at the Outcast's feet, staring pleadingly at the emotionless power armored devil standing before her. Unlike other Brotherhood soldiers, this one was painted black, head to toe, like some revenant of death.

The tall soldier did not move, even though Tala had already thrown him her weapons.

"Look, I'll do anything...? Take them! I'll even fuck you! You Brotherhood guys get off on that right? Please, anything... just let me go!" Tala whimpered as she went on her hands and knees, tears of desperation and fear flowing from her eyes.

She was quite attractive for a raider, Kesler thought, almost pathetically pitiful. By Casdin's orders, he was to shoot her. He stared at her quietly, even as she was stripping off her armor and trying pathetically to 'undo' his power armor.

_There was another Paladin, this one in full power armor, already saluting him. He had passed the supreme test of a Brotherhood Warrior, and now, he had to finish the fight. He had hesitated before and was punished severely, but this time...there would be no mistakes._

_"Remember, the wasteland rewards cunning, strength and victory. This girl is trying to be cunning with you, initiate. A tactic you are supposed to be well versed in, and yet you can not seem to notice it. If you comply with her, not only will you have failed this test, but you are a failure of the Brotherhood, and thus, to be disposed of."_

_The Paladin passed Kesler the pistol. The girl's voice too soft to hear, but her pleading eyes said it all._

_"The fit survive, the unfit are culled. You are the scythe."_

_"Sir."_

Kesler gripped the girls head, and she yelped in sheer terror as he pushed her back against the wall. He raised his rifle.

"I am the scythe." Kesler whispered softly, pulling the trigger and sending the girl into oblivion..

* * *

Morning rose on Fairfax, revealing a pile of smoking ruins, burning cars and debris. Raider and Talon company corpses littered the streets, some in humanly impossible angles and others in pieces.

Protector Henry Casdin slowly limped his way back towards Fort Independence, leaving Rockfowl's squad to clean up. They had lost two men that night, and it was two too many. Each death was literally a weight on his soul, since it was his decision to make them outcasts, to put them in harms way. He could only pray that their sacrifices would be justified, and that he had made the right choice.

.

.

.

Defender Morrill meanwhile, began releasing the hydraulic locks on the helmet one of his Outcast soldiers. He looked at the mangled face of the man with horrified recognition, before saying a few quiet words, and stripping him of his holotag. Even though he died an Outcast, his name would be included in the annals of the Brotherhood, he swore it.

.

.

Two blocks away, Kesler and his squad of Wraith Outcasts emerged from the metro tunnels. Defenders Farsight and Colt greeted them, cheering their fellow comrades on, but Kesler walked by everyone, without uttering a single word.

.

.

Several hundred meters away, by an irradiated stream of the Potomac river, Mikey had crawled his way out of a drainage pipe. His shoulder burned clean through by laser fire, but he was very much alive. He swore incomprehensibly as he recalled the dead bodies of his men. Those Brotherhood scumbags were going to pay.

.

.

Sergeant Clifton and his five remaining survivors slowly made their way northward, though they had lost more than two thirds of their squad, they had succeeded. Clifton watched with satisfaction as they dragged the dead Outcast behind them. It would be hours before they would notice the missing body, and with that thought in mind, he urged his men to move more quickly. Fort Bannister was a long ways away.

.

.

Fitts stood at Fort Independence bridge, in awe of how much destruction they had caused to an already ruined city. A fresh gust of wind blew the smell of burning debris and flesh his way, but by then he had already fitted on his helmet. War, he thought sadly, never changes.

It was a new day in the Capital Wasteland, and there was much work to be done.


	3. Chapter 3: Salvage

"Someone asked me once what the difference was between an Outcast and a Brotherhood soldier, I'll tell you now. Unlike Lyon's personal little frat club, we remembered the mission."

- Anonymous Outcast

**Chapter 3 : Salvage**

* * *

**The Pitt, 2255 AD**

The followers of the camp watched in silence as they saw the lines of Brotherhood troops return from their last battle. Many of them had their power armor completely riddled by bullet holes, others came back with savage scorch marks, evidence of the kind of trickery the cowardly Pitt raiders had used against them. But despite all that, they had returned.

Even as the women and children of the camp rushed up to greet their fathers, brothers and sons, it seemed the soldiers were dazed by the fight. Isolated in their own private little world, seeing nothing but the burning wreckage in the distance and feeling nothing but the aches of their legs as they dragged their feet towards the next step. Even so, they had won, and without losing a single man.

The sky glowed a bright amber orange, lit almost clear as day by the dozens of burning fires that spread throughout the Pitt, formerly known as the City of Pittsburg. Although it was not hit directly by any nuclear warheads during the Great War, Pittsburg had the disadvantage of being located at the basins of three irradiated rivers, which quickly contaminated and mutated the residents, throwing the city into chaos. Two hundred years did little to change the anarchy that drove the city. For decades the city was ruled by anarchy, with squads of rape gangs and torture squads descending upon the weak and helpless, while petty gang wars tore the city apart. Hundreds of raiders converged onto the defenseless town, starting a slave trade, as well as setting up a permanent base of operations.

All that changed when the Brotherhood arrived, cleansing the entire area in a sea of flame and destruction.

One of the lead Paladins took off his helmet, hydraulics hissing as it revealed the face of a middle aged man, with a short beard and grim, hardened features.

"Paladin Lyons, it is good to see you and your men back safely." One of the knights nodded a greeting, reaching out and gripping Lyon's hand tightly.

"It was a tough fight." was all Lyons could manage to say. "but we've managed to scourge them out of their hideaways. Unfortunately, dozens more escaped. There were too many."

"You did all you could sir, everyone knows that." The Brotherhood Knight said. "Besides, this operation could not have gone off any better, we didn't lose a man."

"Just one." Lyons replied, and the Knight nodded silently in repose. "Paladin Ashur?"

"We lost him during the attack on the mill. One of the raiders set off an ammunition dump, after the explosion...we tried to dig through the rubble..." Paladin Lyon's eyes set in with exhaustion, despite being a young man, it seemed to the Knight that he had aged visibly by several years since the attack. The things they must have seen...

"I'm sorry for your loss sir, his name shall live on forever in the annals of steel, I'll make sure of it. For now, let's get you and your men some rest. The rest of the reserve squads can mop up, I'll handle the rest."

Paladin Lyons nodded quietly, before putting on his power armor helmet again, his voice quickly filtered through the helmet radio.

"Do you think you'll ever grow tired of this Casdin? The never ending battle?" Lyons asked his friend.

Knight Casdin seemed taken aback by the question, fighting for the Brotherhood, for the technology of humanity seemed second nature to him, but through Lyon's words, he felt a bit of the burden of the responsibility that was placed on his friend's shoulders, when the Elders chose him to lead over a hundred of their members east to the D.C region. In that split second, he did not envy his friend.

"However long it takes Owyn, we must stay the course. Besides, it's not like you're alone in this, you always have me and Rothchild to pull your ass out of the fire." Casdin grinned.

"That I do my friend, that I do." Lyons chuckled wearily, then saluted to his friend before proceeding back to camp. He was forever grateful to Henry for making sure that the camp, and by extension his young eight year old daughter, was safe. They were the future and she was the reason why he fought so hard. The Brotherhood's mission ultimately was to create a better world, but from what he had seen so far, it was not going to be accomplished in his life time, nor possibly even Sarah's, but he would be damned if he didn't at least try...

* * *

**2277 A.D, Fort Independence Bridge  
**

Protector Casdin watched quietly as the remaining Outcasts began clearing the ruins of Fairfax of bodies. Some raiders were thrown into mass graves while others were simply piled together in clumps and incinerated by flamer squads. The area had to be purified, lest their disease riddled bodies began infecting his men, medical supplies were rare enough as it was. The science teams began setting up Gutsys and Sentry bots to patrol the area, while another member began painting crude Outcast insignias on street signs and lamp posts, signifying that the area was now their territory. Eight Outcast members and a squad of Sentry bots and Protectrons now combed the ruins, searching for any hidden raiders and weapons caches they may have missed, they weren't much, but with the battle over, Henry dispatched the rest of his squads to procure more technology and salvage, they desperately needed materials for repair and they were running low on fuel and energy cells.

Fairfax now belonged to the Outcasts, and Henry found his patrol problems intensified. He had already decided to garrison one squad of four permanently in the metro tunnels, with regular sweeps of Gutsys and Protectrons on the surface to alert them to any intruders, but that meant less regular sweeps to the East and North. He preferred to keep a presence in the East by Andale and the North to Megaton, just to keep abreast of the Wasteland events, but now he would have to sacrifice some extra patrols just for the sense of security.

And it was a delicate security at best. Even in a battle against under equipped raiders, he had two men killed, one missing. Which were losses he could not afford. Though they were outnumbered a good three or four to one in the fight, Raiders had inexhaustible numbers, kill one and ten more would take that scum's place, but for the Outcasts, each casualty permanently decreased their numbers by one. They would have to tread more carefully in the future.

And that brought Henry to the business of the day. One tied up, ruthlessly beaten Talon who sat in front of him. The man's face and body was bloodied and bruised, some from the battle, but most of them from the 'interrogation'.

"To be honest, I didn't expect to find any Talons out here." Casdin said flatly, casually adjusting the energy cells of his laser pistol. "I knew you guys were dumb enough to take any job, I just didn't think you'd be suicidal."

The Talon did not say anything, his gaze a mixture of numbness and defiance.

"I will be honest with you Talon, you are a professional at what you do. I respect that. That also means you have enough brains to know what is coming next." Casdin gestured towards one of the Outcast spec soldiers, who seemed radiate cloaked, black armored death, ripper already in his hand. Defender Anne Marie Morgan stood by silently, watching the entire exchange.

The mercenary watched quietly, nodding. "Corporal Finch, 2nd squad, Talon Company. Sorry, got no fancy holotag serial number and rank like you Brotherhood folk."

"Outcast." Henry corrected him. "Don't even mention us in the same breath."

The Talon remained silent.

"Good, now we got that formality down, lets continue. I know you people work for cash, no other cause. So we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. I have one man missing, two dead, and a whole bunch of Talons operating in our territory, and a bunch of answers I need. I'm not a generous man, you won't get another shot."

The mercenary lifted his gaze to meet Casdin's, whose face was hidden beneath the power helmet. The laser pistol charging up in Casdins hand.

The Talon sighed. "Yeah, Ok. What do you need to know."

Both Outcasts could not contain their surprise. "I'll be honest, I was expecting this would be a lot more difficult."

The Talon simply shrugged. "Nothing written in my contract states that I'm not allowed to talk if captured, but then again, they don't tell us much either. You'll find out nothing from me."

"I'll be the judge of that Talon, first you can start by telling me what you were doing with the raiders." Henry asked.

"Our Sergeant told us we were to move south, to assist the raiders in procuring power armor. Word has it that a client was willing to pay us big for pre-war technology."

"Who?" Casdin asked.

"Hell if I know." The merc grinned. "Like I said, they don't tell us much. Just who to kill, where to find 'em."

"So our missing man..." Defender Morgan connected the dots.

"Most likely on his way north right now, back to Bannister." The man grinned. "Now can you loosen up my bonds?"

"Do you think he knows anything else sir?" Morgan asked Casdin.

The Protector shook his head. "No, nothing else worth extracting from this prisoner." He turned to the Outcast spec ops member.

"We're done here. J.T, make it quick please."

"Sir." The Outcast put away his ripper, instead taking out his laser rifle.

The Talon's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait! but you said-"

"I said there would be an easy way, or a hard way." Casdin remarked. "The hard way was us torturing you to death. This is the easy way." He nodded towards J.T.

Before the Talon could say anything, a red laser beam hit the Talon in the sternum. There was no pain as he had his spinal cord and airways severed from his brain. A split second of awful realization dawned on the man's face as his body began glowing bright orange. The man's face seemed frozen in time as his body began carbonizing into dust. Steam rising into the air as his insides began frying instantly, along with bits and pieces of ceramic armor as his body fell backwards. The body maintained its shape and size until he hit the ground, bursting into a billion particles of dust.

Defender Anne Marie Morgan watched the execution uneasily, and that did not escape Casdin's notice.

"It had to be done, he's seen too much of our operation. He would have been a liability. Besides, he was a local, not like he was worth our time." The Protector said.

"I know sir, but it doesn't mean it sits well with me." Morgan replied. Killing a Talon or Raider when they were attacking you was one thing, but executing an unarmed prisoner of war...

"The Talons would have disposed of him anyway, this was a kindness." Casdin remarked, putting the discussion to an end. "Now, can you give me a damage report."

Morgan's features hardened underneath her power helmet. "As you've said sir, we've lost three men in the operation. Two dead, one missing, Defender Torres. From what the Talon has told us, they are heading north, possibly to Fort Bannister."

Casdin remained silent.

"I know what you're thinking sir. It's suicide."

"Dead or alive, I don't like the thought of those mercs having one of our men. Animals like raiders and Talons leave their people behind, but we don't. That is what separates us from them."

"And you propose we assault Bannister, at the cost of more lives?" Morgan said, almost with reproach.

"No, at least not now. We're too low on numbers, ammo and supplies. We'll need to rest and refit first. That is our number one priority right now." Fifty dead raiders, ten dead talons, at the cost of three dead Outcasts Casdin thought grimly, that left roughly thirty of them left in total, including the scientists and non-combatants, barely enough numbers for one Brotherhood Battalion. It was a rate of exchange that he could not afford.

"Is the science team mobilized J.T?"

The third Outcast, this one a young man in his mid twenties, saluted. "Only me and L.J are here. The rest of the guys are still patrolling up north by Megaton."

"Any reason why?" Casdin asked, it was the reality of the situation, with their limited long range communications equipment, that there were squads in his Outcasts that operated outside of radio contact and Casdin's knowledge.

"We've received word from the locals at Megaton that a new Vault was opened a few days ago, some Vaulties emerging from it. T.T thought it may be wise to check it out to see if we can procure any technology. We have a three man patrol in the area to investigate."

"Is this a registered vault?" Casdin asked.

"Yes sir, Vault 101."

Casdin thought for a second. Registered vaults were usually provided with a plethora of equipment, such as water purifiers, spare parts, and power generators. Enough to start their own city. Salvage from just one of these vaults could prove useful to the Outcasts. If they were lucky, they may even contain a G.E.C.K, one of the stated goals of the mission from the Elders from Lost Hills.

"Alright, I'll leave that squad for now. You and L.J, report to Fitts. I have a special assignment for you."

* * *

"Hey local, shouldn't you be banging rocks together or something?" Defender Colt grunted rudely as he watched a caravan of wastelanders pass him. Although many in the wasteland were thankful for the Brotherhood presence, these locals were both ignorant and annoying. Their dumbfounded gazes made it look like they've never even seen a Brotherhood knight before.

Secretly though, Colt enjoyed seeing their responses. Whether they felt intimidated by the power armor and fled, or if they were dumb enough to actually fight back.

"Just passing through sir, no disrespect intended." The scavenger raised his hands peacefully, showing that he was unarmed, a wise choice. The man wore an old roving trader coat, along with a stormchaser hat and biker goggles. Usually traders hired a caravan guard or two for several hundred caps, reasonably well armed mercenaries who would have even given an Outcast squad some trouble. However, this scavenger obviously did not have as much caps as the established caravans, keeping only a dog for company.

Protector Fitts stepped forward, his hard gaze piercing through the visor of his power armor helmet. He had been walking west all day from Fort Independence under the blazing sun, and was in no mood for trouble.

"We're on the lookout for the salvage parts. Robots or scrap metal. Our intelligence says that there is a facility near here, a Robco facility. Do you know anything that can help us?"

The scavenger held his hands up, as though he were expecting the Outcasts to pounce on him.

_This is why i hate dealing with locals._ Colt simmered in his mind.

"Well, there's a building near old Tenpenny tower that may help you out. Can't say that Mister Tenpenny will be helpful much, but I know a feller scavenger there. Tinker Joe is his name. He's the fella you should be asking."

Fitts nodded, reaching into his power armor and pulling out a few bottle caps for the Scavenger.

"Tinker Joe. Alright, here's your payment local, now get out of our way." He gestured his head eastwards.

"Don't have to tell me twice." The scavenger mumbled, taking his caps before walking away with his dog.

Protector Fitts looked back to the rest of his squad, Defender Colt, armed with a pre-war laser rifle. While the two members of the science team, J.T Benning, and L.J Rogers, followed in tow. Unlike normal Brotherhood scientists and scribes, the Outcasts science team also doubled as medics and soldiers. A necessity as manpower was stretched thin, but they were also a valuable addition to any salvage and recon missions as well. Yet, because Outcast doctrine called for limited numbers per squad for maximum coverage, he had to temporarily detach Kesler and Farsight off to a recon mission up north.

"J.T, how far west are we looking to travel?" Fitts asked.

"Not far Protector, pre-war records in Independence indicate that there was a RobCo facility not more than three miles west of us."

That meant another hour or two of walking, and Fitts carefully calculated the extra water rations they brought with them in their suits.

"Alright, any hostiles in the area?"

"Just the Tenpenny tower guys sir. We may see a few Feral ghouls but the region is pretty quiet. We don't disturb the locals, they don't disturb us."

Fitts nodded. "Colt and I will take point then, you and L.J will back us up."

"Roger that sir."

* * *

Several more hours passed as the four man squad made their way westwards from Independence. Defender Colt himself was bored out of his skull, listening to the current ramblings of the self proclaimed 'most trusted news source' of the Capital wasteland, Three Dog. It was interesting...a week ago the signal was mostly just static, but now, it was suddenly clear as day, providing the Outcasts with up to date intel on Lyons and his band of merry knights, as well as other developments...

_"People of the Capital Wasteland, you can HEAR MEEEE! Yeeeaa haaaa! You can't stop the signal, baby! That's right, from Megaton to Girdershade, Paradise Falls to the Republic of Dave, we are coming to you loud and proud, in a special live report! But Three Dog! You're in that cool radio studio in D.C. How do YOU know I can hear you, all the way out here in the ass end of nowhere? Because of the kid from Vault 101, that's how! That cat actually managed to repair our antenna relay. How's that for ingenuity, folks? From here on in, it's bye-bye stupid static, hello magnificent music. So sit back, relax, and absorb these classic tunes. Kid, you get your ass back to GNR, you hear me? We've got some stuff to talk about!"_

The radio then switched to a song, and Colt himself whistled the tunes of "Civilization" as it was sung eloquently by the Andrews sisters.

_"Bongo...bongo...bongo.."_

"Shut that thing off Colt." Fitts ordered. "We're near a Yao Guai heavy area."

"Hell sir. If anything the Defender may be scaring them away." L.J snickered behind his helmet.

It did not take long before the impressive sight of Tenpenny tower came into view, a luxurious pre-war hotel that was over fifteen stories tall. Easily the tallest thing in the Capital Wasteland except for the old pre-war Washington Monument. It was perhaps the only bastion of humanity in the Southwest quadrant, powered by prewar generators and staffed by dozens of soft locals bathing in luxury. Of course, they also had a garrison of mercenaries for protection. Word had spread that the patron, Allistair Tenpenny, had tried to detonate a nuclear device north of Independence recently, to 'remove' a blot on the landscape known as Megaton. Their leader was unpredictable at best. They would have to tread carefully if the Outcasts were to operate in the area.

East of Tenpenny Tower, was the old RobCo facility, a large warehouse and factory complex with its own parking lot and power stations. Fitts guessed that even two hundred years later, there must still have been some working power generators within the stone building. Even from the distance, he saw the squads of patrolling Protectrons and scrap metal in the parking lot, as well as several burning husks that used to be cars. It looked as though a battle had taken place recently. But that did not deter Fitts, he saw an entire facility filled with potential resources to be used by the Outcasts. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of power cells that could keep their weapons and armor running for years, not to mention Protectrons and Robots that could help alleviate their manpower problems.

Fitts nodded. "Alright squad, this looks to be it. Take five, then we'll see just what we can salvage from that pile of scrap heap."

* * *

Slow update: More action to be had in the next one! :)


	4. Chapter 4: Sniper

"Everyday, I watch this world descend into hell. I'm just trying to find a nice comfortable seat with a nice view." - Defender Farsight

**Chapter 4 : Sniper**

**

* * *

**

For one sweet, simple moment. Everything in the world narrowed down to a small packet of buildings to the northwest. Light, sound, and the rustle of wind and dust were all secondary concerns. Her mind cleared, emptying the thoughts of hunger, restlessness and anxiety, all her energy and thoughts focused on the building that was Gold Ribbon Grocers.

Unconsciously, she began judging the distance, readjusting the sights, calming her heartbeat.

Kesler, standing by her as her spotter, already had his binoculars trained ahead.

"Target acquired, two meters, subway entrance. You're clear to go."

Silence. The one second pause in time between heartbeats, enough to experience that intense feeling of staring into death itself.

_"Bang. You're dead." _

A quick blast tore through the air and the rifle recoiled back into Farsight's shoulder, even though she was wearing reinforced T45d power armor, the modifications on the rifle gave it a monstrous kick, tenderizing her shoulders and aching them with pain.

Three hundred yards away, by the Jury Street Metro, a raider was thrown back. Their body falling clumsily off the roof to join the four other lifeless corpses lying there.

"You got 'em, straight through the sternum." Kesler patted Farsight's shoulder in appreciation. Now the area was clear, they could ransack the place for any useful items.

"Alright then," Farsight smirked, taking off her power helmet to relax for a second, taking the time to shake all the sweat off her brown hair. She had been stalking that band of raiders all afternoon, hiding in hundred-degree weather, inside reinforced power armor.

"Let's go Kesler, you too, Charlie." She reattached her power helmet, nodding towards their robotic companion.

_"Please believe me... when I say I'm not enjoying this." _The Robobrain said in a slightly feminine, montone voice.

'Charlie', the Outcast name for one of their pet Robobrains, an old prewar robot that was simply a cylindrical torso and a hardened glass dome, containing their Central processing unit and an organic brain inside. Like everything else owned by the Outcasts, they were painted black and crimson red.

"At least you don't have legs." Defender Farsight chuckled.

_"Trust me ma'am, I'm aware."_ Charlie replied. The Outcasts had found Charlie by the old Bethesda ruins, his human brain was originally from pre-war days, the question of who he was before was still a mystery. On the plus side, he made a great travel buddy.

Farsight shouldered her rifle, waiting impatiently as Kesler got together his gear, a pre-war Tri-laser rifle. As far as spotter's go, Farsight was grateful for Kesler's company, professional to the core, though even at the best of times, not the best conversationalist. She could not help think back to what he was like when he got out of the tunnels. Though the power helmet covered his face, he gave off the appearance of someone who had stepped through hell and back. Farsight was no fool, she knew that the sort of missions spec ops was assigned were usually the most gritty and deadly ones, that was perhaps one of the reasons she opted to be a sniper instead. To oversee the battle from afar, to be able to see more than any soldier on the field, and when the time was right, to surgically strike the enemy.

It was never personal, just cold, and clinical.

More to the point, she could fell the command structure of her enemies, render their equipment useless and drive fear into the hearts of their fighting men. As far as she was concerned, it was one of the most effective weapons on the field of battle.

She was proud too, of her background, both her parents being part of the Brotherhood 'Hawkeye' squad from out west. Snipers in the Brotherhood forces were rare enough to come by, as each Paladin or Knight preferred to show off their alpha male dominance by wielding the largest heavy weaponry available. But what good would that be when their head was blown off at three hundred yards. One armor piercing round in the hands of an expert was several times more efficient than a whole magazine of elephant killing rounds in the hands of an untrained fool. That was perhaps why Casdin thankful that she stepped over to his side on the day of the schism.

A small dust storm blew across the small Outcast patrol, reminding Farsight just how painfully dull and lonely it was just walking all the way out here.

Farsight watched as the Jury Street Metro station became closer, the backdrop of the far off mountain ranges and urban ruins of DC providing a nice contrast to the bright and colorful grocery store they were about to ransack.

The ancient door shattered as Kesler's power armored kick tore it off its hinges, a split second later, his rifle snapped up, scanning the room for any hostiles.

"Clear." Kesler said over the radio. Seconds later, Farsight showed up, sniper rifle at the ready, while Charlie followed in after.

Kesler quickly pointed to the boxes of cram and dandy's apples on the shelves, while he gestured at a nearby fridge with Farsight. Several arrows were scrawled to the floor, leading up to a circular platform. It was only now that they also noticed the neat domino stacks of abraxo cleaner and food on the shelves.

"Hmm, that looks like fun." Farsight smirked, reminding her of the old games she used to play with the Brotherhood children on the journey west.

"Don't touch it." Kesler warned, gesturing towards the hidden cache of explosives and incendiaries on the rooftop, whoever had made this entire set up obviously put a lot of effort into it. "Just focus on the food."

"Party pooper." She whispered. Then unhappily began tearing the hinges off a nearby fridge

"All the way out here...we could be scrounging for technology, but instead Casdin sends us on a food run." Farsight sighed, this was quite unbecoming, definitely not the best of assignments she had.

"Do you prefer to starve to death in the security of the fort?" Kesler asked in a rather uncharacteristically light fashion as he began storing food inside Charlie's capsules.

_"They could have programmed me to love, to forgive; but noooooo..."_

Leaving the strange set up where it was, the Outcast patrol soon finished their work, shouldering their weapons and heading out the door. Kesler already pushing the battered door out of the way with his power armored glove.

The air shattered.

Farsight involuntarily jumped, and watched in horror as a spray of blood slapped her on the face of her power armor. Kesler's armored body being thrown back into the store, crashing into Charlie.

_Oh Shit_

"Kes!" Farsight ran towards her Outcast, just as a second shot pierced the window, hitting her directly in the shoulder and throwing her down onto the ground.

_"There's no use in hiding. I am programmed to be quite relentless, you know."_ Charlie rolled outside against their invisible assailants, buying Farsight enough time to drag Kesler's limp body away from the doorway, and lean him against the wall. Working through the adrenaline, the fear pumping in her vains, she unhitched Kesler's helmet, watching with horror as she saw a clean bullet wound go straight through the armor plating on his chest. Blood dripped from Kesler's mouth.

"Cough Kes, Come on, Cough!" Farsight shouted.

Kesler gurgled a response, but eventually coughed out spit into Farsight's palm. _Good, no blood, he wasn't lung shot._

"Sniper." Kesler said weakly.

"I figured. Just stay put, I'll be back." Farsight unholstered her rifle, then began making her way to the back of the store, just in time to hear a small explosion from outside as the enemy sniper blew up what was left of Charlie's Chasis.

_"Goodbye...friennd. I'll miss...yoooo#*4374U..."_

Damnit Charlie. Farsight thought with grim anger, before slipping a fresh magazine into her gun and exiting from the back. Defender Kesler meanwhile, slowly dragged himself to cover, laser rifle already in hand.

* * *

Four hundred yards away, in an undisclosed house, two soldiers watched.

"Good shot. Hit him through the chest." The officer nodded with approval.

"Wish I hit his head though, stupid wind." The second soldier, a man in advanced power armor mark II, said disappointingly. The advanced power armor, one of the few post-war models, was composed of lightweight metal alloys, reinforced with ceramic castings at key stress points. Looking nothing like the gray T45ds, the black armor made them look almost like armored aliens from those pre-war outer space movies.

"This is Echo Delta. I have the targets pinned down." The man said quietly, professionally through his helmet. It was not every day that the Enclave sent its sniper teams out into the wastes, but when reports of a Brotherhood patrol popped up in the area, far away from their nearest bases, Enclave Command wasted no time in jumping at the opportunity to reduce Brotherhood numbers even by three. So long as the Brotherhood of Steel held the urban terrain, any assault in the city would result in needless casualties, casualties the Enclave could not afford. This was the safer approach, whittling down their numbers until it was time to strike.

He eyed through the scope again, ignoring the smoking remnants of the robobrain he had just dispatched, instead focusing on the pile of fresh blood by the doorway of the grocery store. He was on the second story window of an old dilapidated pre-war ruin, giving him a clear field of fire into the grocery store and town.

_No way in hell would the other soldier try for the roof, or the car. Those pre-war fusion batteries would make that a death trap_.

The officer spotter, obviously getting too impatient for his own good, nudged the sniper on the back.

"I'll order a squad into town. This shouldn't take too-"

The Enclave officer's head exploded in that instant, thrown backwards onto a bed. The window that he had been sniping out of shattered too, showering him with glass shards and wooden splinters that bounced off his armor.

"A fellow sniper. This should get interesting." The Enclave sniper smirked as he jumped down the old pre-war stairs, changing his location. _I love it when they fight back._ Part of him thrilled at a fight that would actually challenge his skills, the disciplined part of him told him to get to work.

"Agent Echo Delta, report." Enclave command asked through the radio.

"Lieutenant Synder is down," Agent Delta said nonchalantly as he sprinted towards his new position. "Currently pinned down by hostiles, requesting permission for freedom of movement."

"Permission granted. Eliminate all Brotherhood assets in the area. Vertibird, call sign Haven One is on standby if you require assistance." Agent Delta smiled, Enclave Comm was being unusually generous today, granting him access to a vertibird and squad. Usually one vertibird was enough, carrying enough heavy ordinance to flatten a whole town, but for Agent Delta, who was enjoying his first sniper duel in a while, there would be no need of that.

* * *

Time passed slowly in the area of Judy Metro as both snipers prepared themselves for their shots. Farsight slowly made her way through the parking lot, crawling on her front as she slowly scraped her way past the ruined cars. She already had an idea where the sniper was, two dilapidated houses immediately in front of the grocers, only one with an intact second story window. The sound delay between the bang of the shot and the low rumble of the bullet's sonic boom also gave her an idea of the range of how far the sniper was. That eliminated the possible hiding spots and pointed towards the houses.

It did not take her long to find the first shot, an enclave officer who was too cocky for his own good. But his partner was better, drilling a hole through the window and slyly poking his scope and rifle through it. She didn't have a chance to find him, no doubt he would move to another position.

She carefully contemplated her own predicament. There were four main buildings in the area. The electronics store attached to another building on the North part of the lot, while the grocery store stood by itself, across from an abandoned diner. All doors and windows faced south, where her attacker was. To the North, directly in front of her, was a water tower, overlooking the entire area and giving her clear fields of fire, but she quickly ruled that out. She would be too exposed climbing up to it. The hills by the water tower were elevated slightly compared to the terrain to the south, so that may give her some advantage...but getting there was another thing.

"Just hang on for a bit Kesler." Time. That was the other variable in this. Kesler was not lung shot, but if she didn't get back to him in time, he could very well bleed out. She remembered the extra stimpacks they had stored inside poor Charlie, but she couldn't get to him. _Damnit_

The western approach was ruled out, there was a brief space of open terrain perhaps ten meters wide between the two buildings, but she would have been shot down before she could clear it. That left the eastern side of town, where the Jury Street Metro station entrance was, along with the diner. That was her best bet, having the diner shield her from the sniper while at the same time, gaining access to cover.

Pulling a sheet of metal she found off a rubble of garbage behind the building, the Outcast moved slowly eastwards through the parking lot, scraping her armor as she moved. Slowly.

* * *

Meanwhile in the building, defender Kesler gasped in pain as he took another syringe of med-x into his arm. The painkillers were working, but it did not staunch the bleeding like a stimpack would. He knew he was on borrowed time, but hell if he went down without a fight. Farsight was dueling with an enemy sniper, but Jury Street was a well known gathering spot for Raiders and Talons. They had to finish quick before one of the wasteland gangs or talon patrols happened to pay the town a visit. Or worse, an Enclave patrol.

He looked to the grocery store, the obvious trap being set up. And suddenly Defender Kesler had an idea.

* * *

"Breath easy. That's it." Agent Delta spoke to himself, calming his nerves. Doing something his spotter should be reminding him of, but he had done this enough times to get used to it. Usually a sniper needed a full team, at least a spotter to back him up, but he prided himself on being able to work outside the pack.

He scanned the area directly in front of him. Two buildings to his left, a water tower in the distance. No way the Outcast would be dumb enough to try for that. To the right, was a diner obstructing his view, but he had just enough room to glance the entrance of the Jury Street metro station, where several spiked raider bodies hung freely from chains.

A gust of wind blew by, creating a nice distracting dust tornado. Delta smiled at that thought.

_I can wait all day_.

Agent Delta smirked, thanking god that Enclave engineers were smart enough to outfit the Mark II suit with waste recycling systems. With that happy thought, he relieved himself, and took a nice clean sip of water from his built in gator pack.

Then. He saw movement. A distant glitter in the far off mirage.

_Gotcha._

He squeezed the trigger on his rifle.

* * *

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Miles away, inside the old Robco Factory. Defender Colt sighed with boredom as he threw away another useless Robot part from a decades old Protectron. They had been spending the last three hours sorting through a mountain of dead robots.

"I bet Farsight and Kesler are having fun out there...instead of rummaging through this shit." He grumbled

Protector Fitts sighed. "Shut the fuck up Colt."

* * *

The wind blew through the station area, rustling several chains and mangled corpses as Defender Farsight crawled to her next spot.

*BANG*

She shuttered as a geyser of dirt and concrete shot up next to her, the armor piercing round missing her just by several feet.

Another shot glanced her helmet visor, temporarily cracking the glass in her eye holes. By all rights she should have been dead, but the distance and wind had blown the bullet slightly off course, simply grazing her head and knocking her back.

Thanking god for the wind factor, she quickly rolled to her side, hiding behind the concrete blocks of the subway street. The Metallic sheet rolled over her, providing her with cover, and camouflage. Quickly discarding the helmet, She took aim. _Kill that fucking asshole. Kill that fucking asshole.  
_

She squinted, catching the silouette of the armored soldier by a rubble piled near the burnt out house.

_Twenty meters to the left..._

She squeezed the trigger, sending a .308 bullet to her target. She swore silently as the door frame next to the sniper splintered, sending the Enclave trooper packing. The man ran exceptionally fast, his power armored steps granting him a speed which exceeded even a super mutant. But she had him.

She pulled the trigger again, recoil hitting her shoulder as the bullet _pinged _off his armor just beneath his thigh.

_Fuck_

This guy was packing Mark 2 composite armor. It would take several shots to pierce. The .308 caliber bullets she was using was known for accuracy, but at her distance she couldn't hope to penetrate that armor, unless it was a kill shot through the eyes or the weaker spots of the armor.

* * *

"OW." Agent Delta grunted as the bullet _pinged_ off his thigh, jumping towards the nearest trash pile and rolling unceremoniously down the hill. His .50 cal rifle still clutched in his arms, he laughed as he saw the whole episode play out, with the Brotherhood sniper discarding her helmet after she was shot. _That was a chick! No one told me the brotherhood employed female snipers._

That didn't change anything of course_. Be a shame though, to put a bullet into that pretty face._

He limped towards East part of town, giving him a view down both streets, this would limit the number of places she could hide, and at the same time, give him clear fields of fire between the two buildings. He quickly calmed down his breathing, kneeling slightly underneath a rock boulder on the slope of the hill. It was annoying though, since that giant toy rocket statue was obscuring his view of the subway entrance. He kneeled down. closer...

_There she is._

There was the Brotherhood soldier, lying down under a sheet of metal in the parking lot, between two cars.

He squeezed the trigger and fired.

* * *

The Enclave's bullet landed just feet from her shoulder, throwing more dirt into her face. She saw the man, kneeling just under the base of the hill, casually pulling back the bolt of his rifle as he prepped another shot. Not going to give him the chance, Farsight aimed straight for his head and squeezed the trigger.

_CLICK._

For one sick, horrifying second, her eyes widened in realization. _I'm outta ammo, i'm outta ammo...!_

The training kicked in._  
_

_Keep calm. Keep calm. KEEP CALM._ Supressing a curse, she clicked her rifle, letting the empty magazine drop onto the ground before reaching into her armor's torso compartment for more ammo. She calmly slid the magazine into the gun, pulling back the bolt but realizing that it jammed.

"Come on...Come on..." She said quietly even as the Enclave sniper prepped another shot. This one bullet slamming into a pre-war car behind her. The bullet had hit the car's engine, starting several small flames that flickered towards the microfusion cell.

Before Farsight could even swear, the car behind her was lifted to the heavens as a miniature nuclear explosion shook the entire parking lot. Scraps of flaming metal and slabs of concrete shot into the air, blasting and shredding everything with a few metre radius. Farsight felt the entire pressure of the blast behind her, but the metal sheet she had thrown over herself had protected her from the brunt of the blast.

_Is that fucker fooling around with me?_

_CLICK._

The magazine was still protesting at being shoved into the gun, and Farsight made a mental note to replace this rifle when she got out of here. IF she got out of here. The Enclave trooper was doing the same, casually pulling out a spare magazine from his armor and reloading with minimal effort.

It was a farce almost, both opponents eyeing each other while seeing who could reload the fastest. Sweat ran down her forehead as she realized she was literally staring death right in its face. The Magazine finally clicked in, and she aimed down wind once again.

The little scuffle had been going on for several hours by now, and though she had no helmet and was exposed. Farsight knew the battle was nearing its end.

She angled her rifle slightly, catching the dying glares of the sun as it set in the West...

And squeezed the trigger.

* * *

This time the Outcast bullet flew true, shattering the scope of Agent Delta's rifle and sending his head flying back.

He tumbled backwards, cursing himself but thanking his reinforced armor. His helmet was cracked, and his optics were fried. He hit his helmet, trying to regain a visual, but to no avail, and he recalled quietly the moment just seconds ago, when the glint of light off of the Outcast's scope and the sheet of metal she was lying under caught him off guard.

"That little bitch." Agent Delta said slyly with a hint of appreciation, realizing that the Brotherhood soldier had spent all this time manuvering him off the hills to face West, just as the sun was setting. Now, she was lying in cover, sun at her back, while Delta had to stare into it to even glint at her._ That was why she took her sweet time. _

"Haven One." The Agent Delta called out.

"This is Haven One, come in Delta." The voice over the radio called out.

"Haven One. This is Delta. I'm tired of walking. Over." The Enclave pilot radioed, over the heavy roar of vertibird engines.

"This is Vector Sigma." A new, more menacing voice echoed through the radio waves. "Is the target down? I have Hellfire troops on route, they can land within two minutes."

Agent Delta considered that thought, burning the entire town and the Brotherhood troops in it with a squad of shock troops.

Nah.

"Belay the order sir. Hostiles are down. Requesting extraction."

A slight pause. "Roger that, making our way to you. Report to these coordinates for extraction."

Agent Delta smiled, inputing the coordinates in his armor before setting off to the East, away from Judy Metro.

"Another day lady sniper." He smirked as he waved in the direction of the Outcast, throwing away his useless rifle. Delta then limped Eastwards towards the Vertibird landing site, content that he had at least taken out one Brotherhood soldier.

* * *

Farsight watched sullenly, exhausted and numb as she saw the Enclave trooper wave to her. She considered sending another bullet towards him, ending him, but the mere fact that he was retreating was enough.

_Kesler_

She quickly sprinted back to the Grocer's store, rummaging by the battered husk of Charlie the Robobrain and taking the stimpacks with her into the store.

As the door opened, she saw Kesler leaning against the wall, semi-conscious but alive. A tri-laser rifle at his side.

"Wanted to go down fighting." He smirked at Farsight.

"Well, right now I'm looking forward to being safe in our secure little fort." Farsight smiled weakly, slowly stripping Kesler of his chest plate and applying the stimpack on his open wound. Crusted blood soaked the floor, but she was thankful that she had reached him just in time.

"You'll need rest. We'll move out in the morning." Farsight herself nearly collapsed against the wall, setting her rifle down and letting out a relaxed breath, watching as the afternoon sun quietly set over the mountains, plunging Judy Metro in a quiet darkness.

Kesler nodded, but before he could even say anything else, more voices emerged from outside.

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_"Well, looks like Chief's gang got wasted. You saw that? BOOM! HAHA, now this place is ours!"_

Great. Raiders. It had to be raiders.

* * *

Thanks all for reading ! And to answer one question about the LW. Yes i'm planning an appearance, but the Outcasts will probably be more affected by the aftermath of his/her actions in the wasteland rather than meeting the LW personally...


	5. Chapter 5: Recon

"Pay a man enough, and he'll walk bare foot into hell." - Talon Company Motto

**Chapter 5: Recon**

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* * *

**

Defender Rockfowl grumbled as he set down his minigun next to him. The squad overlooked what used to be Bailey's crossroads, a metro entrance and plaza that was now crumbling in ruins like every other part of post-war D.C. The smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air, which came from the charred remains of a super mutant raiding party that had formerly set up shop in the area.

"Do you seriously think that they'll show up?" The Outcast knight said impatiently.

"They'll come, they didn't build their meddlesome reputation by passing up contacts." Casdin remarked indifferently, staring distantly into the ruins. Beside him was a squad of three Outcasts, each defender tense with weapons at the ready. Although they were not expecting another battle, it never hurt to be ready in the Capital Wasteland.

The Outcasts rarely ventured into the urban terrain, as it was heavily contested between the Mutants and the Brotherhood, and the Outcasts had neither the weaponry or manpower to challenge both. Yet, in this stretch of territory, Casdin knew the risk was worth it. Information was valuable, and with the current manpower shortages of the Outcasts, he had to find other means of obtaining it.

As he stared into the distance, he brought up his shortwave radio, which had been picking up the latest broadcasts Three Dog. Mostly it was just the usually pro-Brotherhood ramblings of the man, who was completely in Lyon's pocket. Scattered reports of Enclave activity up north and Super Mutant attacks, but another interesting tid bit as well.

T.T's team had been unsuccessful at reopening the entrance to Vault 101, unable to communicate with the inhabitants inside, or perhaps just finding them uncooperative. Although they had searched the nearby country, all signs of the vault dweller that had left 101 had vanished, until today...

_"Got some great news out of the town of Megaton. Turns out that live atomic bomb in the town's center has finally been deep-sixed for good. The town's sheriff, one Lucas Simms, commissioned the one, the only Lone Wanderer from Vault 101 to disarm the nasty nuke, and the kid delivered. Hey, nice work, 101. Next time you're in the neighborhood, pop into the studio. Ol' Three Dog's toaster's been on the fritz..." _Three dog then proceeded to utter some shameless propaganda about the Brotherhood soldiers, but by that point, Casdin turned the radio off.

Henry made a mental note of this though. Disabling an atomic bomb was no small feat, and whoever this person was, possessing such skills and knowledge could prove to be an asset, or a bane, to the Brotherhood. He kept this in mind, it could prove useful in the future. But for now, more important things had to be dealt with.

Twenty more minutes passed in the blazing sun before their contacts approached. At first blurred far off figures walking through a distant mirage. They sported heavy combat armor, pre-war, similar to Talon company, but they were a reinforced and dark green as well, with the official emblem of a four leaf clover etched on the chestplate. They were the best recon team in the wasteland, Reilly's rangers.

It was a five man squad, most of them armed with shotguns and rifles, although one of the mercenaries carried a distinctly large minigun, almost putting Defender Rockfowl's own to shame.

Casdin himself stepped forward, almost casually as though he were not standing between two heavily armed, tense and nervous groups of people.

He nodded towards one of the rangers, a red head, whom he presumed was Reilly. "Reilly's rangers I presume?"

Reilly herself seemed not the least bit intimidated or offended that Casdin didn't really bother with the formal introductions. She had seen too many varieties of clients to even bother caring, so long as the caps paid.

"At your service, now what can we do for you folks today?" She managed to make that lighthearted line sound serious, wastelanders were naturally defensive around the Brotherhood, for good reasons, and the Outcasts were no different.

Casdin began, "You should know by now what we need. Information. I want to contract your squad to scout the D.C ruins for us. As well as provide us with any geo-mapping data that you have already."

Reilly seemed to eye Casdin for a hard second, as though trying to gauge something from that emotionless power armored stare, but she nodded. "Reilly's rangers always honors our contacts. As long as we get the caps."

"Are you all assembled?" Casdin inquired.

"Not all of us, I have a four man squad with me right now, we're looking at mapping the White House district, but haven't been able to on account of the increased super mutants."

"And the Brotherhood?"

"They haven't been a bother to us, we leave them alone and they do the same."

"Which makes you the perfect candidate for our recon missions." Casdin threw Reilly a bag of caps. "Consider this a down payment, upload your geo-mapping data to us and more will follow. We will pay extra in tech and caps for any useful intel you can provide to us on what is going on downtown. Super mutant activity, Talon company, and the Brotherhood and such, but you are to tell no one about us."

Reilly smirked. "Of course not, who do you think we are? Talon Company?"

The mere mention of Talon company set Casdin in a bad mood. He had already ordered all Outcasts to shoot any Talon Patrol on sight.

"Do not take this job lightly. Our expectations are high for you and your squad." Casdin said finally, implying that the conversation was at an end. He turned to Rockfowl. "Come on, let's move out, we're exposed enough as it is."

"One question." Reilly asked, causing the band of Outcasts to pause in annoyance.

"Tread very carefully local." Defender Rockfowl replied.

Reilly, hardly intimidated, asked anyways. "What do you have against the Brotherhood?"

Casdin remained motionless, as though contemplating one way to say everything he felt was wrong with Lyons and his group, or perhaps controlling his hatred.

"Not that I really care to tell you, but it's the fact that Lyons turned our mission into a shit show." Casdin finally remarked.

"At least they're trying to do what you guys should've been doing from the start. I mean, they're helping out the people of this wasteland with their technology, isn't that one of your goals?" The ranger gave the Outcast Protector a stern look, bordering on reproach, but the blank gaze of Casdin's power armored helmet revealed nothing.

"You really know nothing about us then."

"I'm a Ranger ya know, I've been around long enough to know about you guys out west. Your wars with the NCR, The Steel Plague."

Henry did not seem the least bit phased by this accusation. "Just get to work."

Another hard stare came from Reilly, but eventually she nodded, there was no point in promoting a scuffle. She turned around without wasting another moment. "Come on Rangers, we have scouting to do."

Casdin watched as Reilly and her gang disappeared into the distance, taking one of the ruined metro entrances for convenience. There was some truth in her words, for the Brotherhood really had no interest of sharing it's technologies with the tribals and locals. At least for now. It would happen eventually, when the sacred work was done, and all that had been lost in the Great Atomic Fire had been recovered. But Henry knew that day was a long ways away, definitely after his lifetime. He shook his head with some pity towards these uncomprehending tribals.

Mankind was always impatient for change, to always have new technologies, new progress right now. But the fastest ways to implement change, in Casdin's mind, was one thing: War. War and the devastation it brings changes many things, it can bring about swift progress or the destruction of civilizations. Change had to happen over time, the Brotherhood understood that. Knew it was the only way for mankind to truly recover. They could not just share every discovery with a pack of rabid and uncivilized wastelanders. It would be squandered on them, and the sacred work would be set back by generations. If this generation of tribals could not see it, Casdin could care less. He had argued the same point with Lyons, and like the Ranger, the poor fools did not see it. His methods of bringing about change would result in nothing but more conflict to a land that was already destroyed by war.

"Let's move out Outcasts, we've got ground to cover."

* * *

_"Do not be alarmed. Law and order will be restored shortly."_

The protectron buzzed, just before it's central processing unit exploded into a million pieces, it's tin body falling lifelessly onto another pile of robots, all of them riddled with bullet holes and battle scars. Gunfire echoed through the hallways of the ancient Robco factory, as dozens of activated pre-war securitrons

_"Ti...Tickets, please." _A power armored boot quickly crushed the rest of the Protectron's head.

"J.T, How long do we have?" Protector Fitts yelled impatiently above the laser fire that roared down the hall. One door down the hall, Defender Colt finished loading his last microfusion cell into his Tri-laser rifle. He clicked the cell in place, waiting as the battery charged the weapon up. A red laser beam chipped at the concrete walls, burning near holes in prewar doors and desks.

"Just a minute sir! I'll have it under control." J.T Bennings cursed as he quickly tried hacking back into the mainframe. Under an hour ago, the most dangerous thing in this facility were just annoying radroaches and mole rats, that was, until Defender L.J Rogers decided to fiddle around with the mainframe terminal, setting all Protectrons and security bots to "Total Liquidation" Mode. It only took a second before the entire building filled with laser, plasma and flamer fire as every living thing down to the last radroach was being incinerated within the building. Now, every Protectron within the facility was heading straight for four outnumbered Outcasts. Both L.J and J.T furiously tried to reprogram the things while Colt and Fitt's guarded the door.

"Any day now!" Fitts yelled, firing another shot that blasted a triangular shaped hole into a Protectron. Two more of the fragile robots fell before another robot appeared in the doorway, literally crushing the battered husks of its robotic cousins. Both Fitts and Colt widened their eyes. Unlike protectrons, this was a military class Sentry Bot, sporting tripod legs with wheels and a gatling laser and rocket launcher in each arm.

_"Alert, use of lethal force in progress. non-combatant safety cannot be guaranteed"_

"Well fuck me sideways..." Defender Colt managed to blurt out, before the entire hallway became bathed in a stream of constant red laser gatling fire. Every Protectron in the hallway either exploded or was disintegrated.

_"Be advised, hostiles in area. Threat neutralization in progress."_

Fitts nodded to Colt as they both eyed each other through the doorways, and on cue, both outcasts unpinned a frag grenade, sending it rolling down the hallway towards the sentry bot.

The entire floor shook, loosening dust and soot from the ceiling as the hallway lit up in a cloud of orange flame and shrapnel. Several dead Gutsys exploded as well, their flamer fuels adding more to the raging inferno.

Colt gave a low whistle, appreciating the amount of destruction they had wrecked upon the ancient machines, but to his surprise, the Sentry bot was still standing, aiming its rocket launcher arm down the hall towards J.T and L.J.

"There!" J.T shouted in excitement, "We got it! Shutting off all bots now!" The Outcast began entering the codes into the console.

"GET DOWN!" Fitts shouted, both him and Colt bracing against the wall, while J.T and L.J both dived down to the floor.

The projectile roared through the hallway, passing the door before hitting the computer console dead on. The ancient mainframe collapsed as the missile pierced it's hardware, exploding into a ball of flame and scrap metal and microchips all over the room

The Sentry bot, having just been reprogrammed, simply powered down afterwards. _"Systems...FAAIILuuuuuure."_

All four Outcasts were lying on the floor, covered in rubble and dust, but alive nonetheless. It took several seconds for the ringing to stop before they recognized that the battle had ended.

"Well, that was close." J.T snipped in, brushing the dust off his armor as he got off his feet.

"Any injuries?" Protector Fitts grumbled as he got back up. What had started as a regular salvage operation descended into a battlefield all too quickly. He frowned at the robots and technology they had been forced to destroy, so much had already been lost.

"We're fine Cap'n, still in one piece." Defender Colt gave a salute as he threw away his busted Tri-laser rifle. He eyed the Sentry bot greedily, aiming to dismantle it's gatling laser for himself.

"Good, salvage what we can, then meet me in the front lot. We've done enough here."

The Outcasts nodded, filing out of the room until Fitts grabbed J.T by the chest plate, hauling him against the wall.

"If I see any of your men risk my squad like that again. I'll shoot them myself. Is there clear?"

J.T felt a small lump form in his throat. "Yes Protector."

"Good, now pack up and let's go."

It wasn't until some time later before the four man squad was done with the building, hauling their wares and salvage out of the ancient warehouse. In the distance, Fitts could see a detail of heavily armed mercenaries watching the Outcast soldiers in the lot, they were armored like Talons in combat armor, but did not possess the black armor or white claw insignias of their enemies. They were most likely soldiers from Tenpenny Tower, keeping an eye on the new intruders for their master. The Outcast ignored them, disgusted with the thought of even communicating with a rabble such as them. Let them watch. His attention was focused on the man standing in the parking lot, an elderly man with a kind weathered face, who was accompanied by his own mini-army of robots.

"And you are?" Fitts asked.

"Hello stranger," The man bowed slightly. "I'm Tinker Joe. Premier supplier of robotic parts and services throughout the D.C Wasteland."

Fitts nodded. This was the man that the wastelander had advised him about. Perhaps something could yet be salvaged from all the lost technology in the Robco centre.

"I'm Protector Fitts. Of the Brotherhood Outcasts." He extended his hand towards the man. A courtesy that not even Casdin would have granted to a wastelander, but for Fitts, he learned that a little courtesy could go a long way.

If Tinker Joe was surprised by this or affected by it in any way, it did not show.

"Of course you would sir, of course! Well, it just happens that I've got a beaut of a deal on this customized Gutsy. And it's not just 'Mister' Gutsy - he's a full fledged sergeant! Sergeant RL-3 to be precise, the pride of General Atomics International." Fitts took a second to appraise the Mr. Gutsy model that floated behind the scavenger. Gutsys were known to be reliably tough, almost as powerful as sentry bots, and this one seemed to have reinforced armor plating, along with a custom dark army green coat.

"Comes complete with a simulated personality unit, so he's good protection and good company too! He's all yours for 1,000 caps." Tinker Joe made the pitch the same way he had all these thousands of times.

"A thousand caps?" J.T protested, outraged that a tribal would dare charge that much.

Fitts however, studied the robot more carefully. "Simulated personality? Sounds like trouble." He had known one too many going rampant, suddenly developing the self awareness to disobey orders and fry everything around them.

Tinker Joe simply shrugged at the statement. "To tell you the truth, it is a little trouble, but he can't help the way he got built. General atomics programmed the mister gutsy to be a good soldier, but their definitions were a bit vague, so a lot of units had...issues. SO we got a gung-ho robotic soldier that's pick about the company it keeps, but he seems to like you, so it'll be fine."

Defender Colt stepped in, armed with his newly salvaged Gatling Laser. "I'd like him sir. After all, he can't be worse than Charlie." The Defender smirked, thinking about all the bitching that robot brain always did, in that regard, he didn't envy Kesler or Farsight at all.

Fitts nodded in agreement. "1,000 caps is a lot, but we'll take him."

Tinker Joe's face brightened up at this statement. "I'll just transfer the codes, and you've got a deal friend. Here's hoping for the best for you and the sergeant alike!"

Fitts nodded, having spent all the time he was willing to spend in this hellhole. "Time for us to go."

He turned, just as the Gutsy robot fell out of line with Tinker Joe, joining the four man Outcast squad.

"Salutations Commander! Sergeant RL-3, Gutsy class robotic soldier, reporting for duty!"

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up and fall in."

"SIR!"

* * *

Hours passed over Bailey's crossroads, the sun setting in the dusk sky, which glowed a bright orange. Dust tornadoes blew through the square, upending several pre-war posters and newspaper rolls, frustrating Defender Sibley even more.

"The fuck does Casdin want us here for?" He complained.

"Whatever the fuck he wants Defender." Protector McGraw, a gruffly, beared looking Outcast reminded his subordinate. "Olin's managed to get us into that underground bunker, but she needs time to access it." The armory in Bailey's was an old pre-war bomb shelter for the military. Supposedly armed with the latest in pre-war weapons and technology from both Chinese and American armies.

"Don't see why we don't just blow a hole through the door." Sibley kicked a piece of concrete with his boot.

"Short of a mini-nuke, we've tried everything else. "

"I don't like it sir. Especially with all the locals wandering around. Whatever's behind that door better be worth it."

"So that's why its your job to keep the locals away, just do your duty soldier." McGraw was in no mood to argue with his touchy subordinate.

"Yes...Sir.' Sibley grumbled.

McGraw sighed, walking back to the compound where the excavation was taking place. When this is over, he would go back. Not back to the Citadel, but way back west to where the original brotherhood was, pure and simple. This work was taking far too much time, and with only five Outcasts and a specialist posted in the Outpost, it would take even longer than expected.

"How are we doing Olin?" He asked, even as the scribe was busy re-routing circuitry under a console.

"Not so good, I've managed to reactivate the power for the doorway, but it won't open unless we get someone in the simulation."

"Haven't we tried that already?" McGraw asked, remembering the cybernetic suit they've found in the armory's less secure vaults.

"Yes, but it requires the occupant to be equipped with a pre-war Pip-boy 3000."

"Pip-boy?"

"A sort of wrist mounted computer, Protector, programmed to assist the wearer and only usable by the person whose genetic code matched its program. It's a very rare and specialized piece of pre-war equipment. If we could obtain one, that would go a long way..."

* * *

Meanwhile, up on the street level, Defender Sibley spotted an interesting sight. A wastelander running away from an angry Super Mutant. But what distinguished this local from the rest was the way he was dressed. In a blue vault-tec suit.

A sinister smile appeared on Sibley's face. Then he realized the local was running towards him.

Instincts quickly taking over, Sibley warmed up the barrels of his minigun, sending a hot blaze of iron and shells towards the super mutant, ripping his torso into shreds. The lumbering green giant collapsed into a bloody heap, leaving the disoriented Vault dwller lying at the Outcast's feet.

"Well...Lookie at what we have here. Maybe this is the guy we've heard about all this time from Three Dog."

The vault dweller, dressed in the standard blue Vault Tec jumpsuit, with the number of his vault patched on his back. Looked up at the Outcasts nervously.

"Gary?"


	6. Chapter 6: Heart of Evil

Note: This chapter will be **rated M** for some pretty heavy themes.

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"I know who you are. You are walking death, a plague in human form. Where you step, blood flows like a river. But such iniquities can be ended by a righteous soul! " - Father Lasher

**Chapter 6: Heart of Evil  
**

**

* * *

**Evil does not die.

Though the atomic fire meant death to the majority of the world, to a few, it meant life. For the inhabitants of Vault 87, deep within the confines of the Earth, it was a rebirth. They thought the vault was their salvation, and by the hundreds, they poured in, unknowingly participating in the last great experiment of the pre-war government. The Forced Evolutionary Virus, the greatest biological weapon ever created, and a monument to all the sins of a world long since dead. Before the experimenters knew it, their own creations turned against them, killing and mutating dozens in the process. Two centuries have passed and hundreds more were mutated into the horrific monstrosities known as super mutants. Immune to disease, radiation, and blessed with exceptional strength, now wandering the Capital Wasteland, searching for more to add to their numbers.

One such mutant raiding party returned with their human prizes, and soon within the corridors of Vault 87, a fresh batch of screams echoed through the chambers as new victims were strapped in and injected with the serum. The FEV worked by stimulating all of the subjects DNA to grow and evolve, and this included pain receptors throughout their body. All at once. The transformation and pain simply drove many insane, those that could not take it, simply died from brain trauma.

Since the virus was confined to the gene pool of Vault 87's inhabitants for the past two hundred years, it was not as mature as its west coast cousin, all the subjects either dying horribly in mid transformation, leaving half human hybrid corpses or producing sub intelligent brutes. Like its west coast cousin however, it is capable of mutating, and the continual infection of captured wastelanders slowly brought new genetic material for the virus to work with. Eventually, it would bring about changes that even the original creators never thought of...

New noises soon filled the Vault. Gunshots, grunts and more screams, now more feral and gutteral, echoed once again through the hallways. It was not until much later, when the last guns fell silent, that this new group of super mutants emerged from the lab, hands covered in the blood of their former mutant captors who now lay as green clumped corpses on the floor.

Evil does not die.

It evolves.

* * *

Protector Casdin was not in a good mood. His muscles were sore, his eyes heavy and bagged, and he hadn't had a chance to sleep in twenty four hours. All forty seven years of his life began weighing down upon him, so much had happened, so much work had to be done to prepare his Outcasts for the next fight.

They were back at Fort Independence, the Outcast Defenders finally taking the time to rest and refit their men after two days of stepped up patrols and fortifying the Fairfax ruins. Protectors Morrill, McGraw, and Fitts all watched as Henry took in the reports.

"Are these the latest reports from out west?" Casdin asked, and Protector Morrill nodded grimly.

"Yes. We tried to reach out west via the old Rockland tunnel route which we had used when we first arrived with Lyons. That is blocked now, by Enclave."

Everyone at the table was silent. One of the top priorities of the Outcasts was to re-establish contact with the Western Brotherhood of Steel. To request support and reinforcements, and to also report Lyon's treacherous behavior. Lyons himself, was equipped with the only radio equipment powerful enough to communicate with the Brotherhood Cortex out west. When the Outcasts left the fort, they were unable to take the equipment with them. They may as well be on the far side of the moon than hope to communicate with the Western Brotherhood, at least, without Lyon's help. And Henry knew Lyons wasn't just going to let him waltz in and make a report to his superiors about his treachery. Morrills idea had been to send one patrol West to re-establish contact, even if that took a year to make the trek. Now, the Enclave blocked that route.

"The Enclave must have arrived on the East Coast the same time as us. Word on the waves is that Eden didn't really establish his presence here until thirty years ago. About the same time we arrived." Rockfowl noted.

"Any casualties?" Casdin looked to Morrill.

"Just one sir. Defender Vega." The Protector hung his head at that remark, he had watched Vega bleed out on the slopes of the Dunwich area, was there when they had to strip the power armor from him and retrieve his holotag.

Casdin's knuckles tightened, turning white. _We are bleeding out by the day. We must make progress soon or we will be wiped out. __  
_

"This changes everything gentlemen. What you're telling me is that we are effectively bottled in the Capital Wasteland, with Lyons in our front and the Enclave in our rear."

"We could make a try for the Pitt again." Fitts offered. "We've done it once, we could do it again."

"Too risky." Morrill countered. "We had Lyon's men back then, more than three times our current numbers. Word has it that the Pitt has gotten pretty organized now as well, even has something close to resembling a standing army of slavers like Paradise Falls."

"With the technology and robots my squad repossessed from the Robco facility. We can force it." Fitts insisted. That was true enough. In addition to Sergeant RL-3, at least half a dozen Sentry Bots and Protectrons were salvaged from the debacle.

"We can't ignore the Brotherhood though. I still say that is our best bet at re-establishing contact." Rockfowl added in.

Casdin nodded. "Rockfowl's right. The back door is shut tight now, and the way we came originally is out as well. We're stuck here. Whether we like it or not. We must not forget the Enclave either, they are our sworn enemies. I'm sure even Lyons can recognize that."

"Have we heard from the Rangers?" Protector Morrill asked.

"Yes, and no. They've given us some information on the DC area, and there are some areas that I would like our squads to check out. But I've yet to hear from them in a while."

"That doesn't matter now, since we are stuck here, we must be aggressive, grab all the tech here before Lyon's can. He abandoned the mission, we must prove that we are doing our mission, and this strengthens our hand for when our Elders do re-establish contact with us."

"At the moment, Lyons already has the upper hand, or did you not remember the three story robot? The best we have is that MISS launcher that J.J made, and even with that i'd be lucky to hit the broad side of a barn." Fitts said almost nonchalantly.

Casdin nodded. "I know our efforts have yet to turn up the results we need, but progress is being made. Morrill tells me that McGraw and Olin have contacted a Vault Dweller to help?"

Morrill rolled his eyes at the comment. " 'help' is a far stretch sir. From the last thing McGraw told me, that vault dweller must have had his brains punched out by Sibley, he's not making any sense."

"McGraw has his methods. I have complete faith in him."

"If you say so sir."

"What I'm concerned with. Is that while we're struggling with one vault sir, Lyons has enough manpower to fight the supermutants and raid every other tech building in the downtown area. It won't take long before there's nothing left to salvage." Fitts said.

"Which is why we can't afford to let Lyon's build on that advantage." Casdin said. "We'll intensify our patrols in the urban terrain. Avoid conflict with the Brotherhood if necessary, but do not hesitate to use force."

"How about Talon Company? We can't allow them to operate in our rear. Not after what happened." Rockfowl quipped in.

"Where do you think we're going next?" Casdin replied, completely serious.

"We're limited numbers as it is Protector. Are you sure about this?" Morrill was the first to ask.

"Better to attack, than sit here and die one at a time."

Fitts nodded. "No issues here chief. I'll wait for Kesler and Farsight to rejoin, then we're good to go."

"Any word from them yet?"

"Not since yesterday." Fitts replied. "I'd reckon we'll hear from them soon."

Casdin nodded. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wanted to bring up the mention of the mysterious person from Vault 101, and whether he or she can be of use to them, but he let that slide for now, since three dog probably built up the bullshit stories about the kid to sell his news. After all, in the grand scheme of things, how much difference can one person make?

* * *

Day soon turned into dusk around the Jury Street station, and Defender Kesler found that day's rest, and the stimpacks, had done the job. The Enclave sniper had hit him in the torso, between the shoulder and heart, narrowing missing his vital organs. The T45d armor too, did much to stop the bullet before it hit him. Plus there was also farsight, applying the proper power armored pressure on the wound to stop the flow of blood and allow the stimpacks to heal. After living a day on old cans of cram and dandy apples, Defender Kesler felt some of the old strength returning to him.

They had huddled in the closet, just as the raiders were setting up shop in the parking lot. 'Charlie' was long dead, the raiders using his squishy brain as a sort of hood ornament, while the raiders did not even bother checking the convenience store, piss poor decision on their part, but one that gave the Outcasts time to plan. The raiders probably had occupied this place previously, from the other gang that Farsight had wiped out, it was only a matter of time before another gang challenged them for this place.

"Are you ok to move?" Defender Farsight asked, whilst reassembling the parts of her sniper rifle after cleaning it for the night. She quickly took out a 10mm pistol and checked it as well, knowing that the bust out would probably be close quarter combat. Lucky for her that the close combat specialist was wounded.

"I'll manage." Kesler said, just as he slipped his black power armor back on. He wasn't idle, had already worked out the plan in his mind, the worst part was just waiting for something to happen outside.

Their patience was finally rewarded with some shouts from outside. A challenge from a sentry, followed by sprays of automatic fire. Some other gang had come to contest Jury Street Metro from the raiders. Kesler nodded to Farsight, who was already aiming her rifle at the doorway, anticipating someone coming in. Both soldiers listened as the rolling sound of gunfire echoed from one side of the street to the other, as though the battle was shifting more towards them. With the dying light of the sun vanishing over the mountains, they had the advantage of wearing black armor in almost perfectly dark conditions. It was now or never.

A group of raiders suddenly ran through the doorway, narrowly avoiding a burst of machine gun fire that ricocheted off the convenience store mall. They had a run in with some Talons, hunting some goody too shoes from the wastes, but there was no love lost between the two sides as they both sought this station as their camp. The last thing the raiders expected to see however, were two Outcast Power Armored soldiers hiding in the closet storeroom of the grocery store.

One of the raiders, a bulky man sporting blastmaster armor, aimed his flame thrower at the Outcasts and shouted.

"Give me one fucking reason Brotherhood scum, why I shouldn't blow your brains out."

Kesler simply pointed at the ground in front of the raider.

"You're standing on it."

The raider looked down, and saw too late, the platform he had just triggered, knocking free the bundle of hand grenades that hung above his head from the ceiling.

Soon, there was a loud thunder, some noise, then...a bright whiteness.

Two of the raiders were blown to bloody pieces on the spot, while the one carrying the flamethrower had his weapon explode from the blast, covering him in liquid flaming napalm as he ran screaming out of the store, the perfect flaming target for several Talon mercenaries who quickly cut him down with gunfire.

The Talons were too busy admiring the flaming corpse on the ground to notice two black power armored figures emerge from the store.

A hail of bullets scythed down two Talons, tearing out chunks of steel and asphalt from the cover they hid behind. Kesler took a peek towards the old diner, and saw at least five more Talons slowly make their way towards them, so confident in their numbers that they didn't even bother to find cover.

Shouldering his shotgun, Kesler took a grenade from his suit and lobbed it in the middle of the group, causing the Talons to scatter. Another blast shook Jury street, and one Talon's lifeless body was hurdled in the air by the blast.

All the while, the two Outcasts did not stop running, even as the raiders on the rooftop adjusted their aim from the Talons to the newcomers on the battlefield. Spouts of earth shot up next to the two runners as the raiders tried to pin their targets down with antique hunting rifles.

Both Outcasts stopped behind a metal sheet fence, firing and scoring two more kills from the Talons who dove behind a car, only just getting back on their feet from the blast. Farsight took the time to pick off the raiders from the rooftop, showing everyone what a professional sniper could do. Within ten seconds, both raiders were down, their heads blown off their shoulders.

Kesler's shotgun blazed, sending two raiders backwards, their bodies torn apart by the close range blast. Just as Farsight picked off another Talon that was rushing from afar, one more Raider emerged from behind Kesler, using an antique sword to try and slice through the power armor.

The Outcast lifted his arm in defense, and the ancient sword simply snapped in two, the old blade useless against riveted reinforced steel. Before the raider had time to even cuss Kesler was on him, crushing his windpipe in a power armored fist.

Suddenly the air filled with heat and pressure as both Outcasts were thrown backwards by an exploding car.

The Raider leader, carrying a pre-war rocket launcher, grinned a toothless smile as he loaded another one, intent on wiping both them out in one blast.

Farsight took her rifle, aimed it squarely at the leader, and fired, just as the raider pulled the trigger on the missile.

There was a flash, and soon the entire world went white.

* * *

It was a dark night in the Capital Wasteland, the winds howling throughout the canyons where Talon company settled in for the night.

Sergeant Clifton casually ignited his lighter, puffing his cigar as he watched his men go to work on the Outcast. They were close to Bannister, actually made enough time that they had an extra night, bunking up in an abandoned shack. This was for two reasons. He wanted to find some way to get the armor off the Outcast before presenting it to the commander. The second was because of a recent discovery.

To his surprise, and to the surprise of his men. The Outcast was not dead at all. Perhaps, heavily wounded, but the first weak groans of pain she gave out as they dragged her lifeless body across the wastes soon verified that she was still amongst the living. That was part of the second surprise too, that it was a woman soldier they captured. Almost unheard of in the Talons, since they rarely lasted a week, between them being sent on suicide missions and being unable to defend themselves from the not-so-friendly approaches of their fellow Talons. But for the Brotherhood to employ woman as soldiers was a surprise to Clifton. A pleasant surprise. The bitch took part in an assault that killed ten of his men, and now, the survivors would take it out on their prisoner. Already the Outcast was stripped out of her armor, the Talons having used sledgehammers and buzzsaws to break the pieces that they couldn't dislodge from the prisoner, with her limbs still inside the armor. The helmet was the worst part of it, considering it had to have the permission of the owner to remove it. Some sort of pre-war safety device. Some more persuasion, a few more broken bones and the assistance of some power tools, got that off soon enough to reveal a beaten and battered brunette beneath it. The effort had taken hours, and already blood had begun pooling on the floor.

Clifton grinned darkly. It was just like opening a Christmas present.

The Outcast soldier didn't move, though she was intact, she could not move, since her legs and arms were limp from the sledgehammers and tools. He could hear her breathing faintly, as though she had exhausted herself from all the screaming at the beating. Sweat glistened on her forehead, but the grim determined look never left her eyes, but even Clifton saw through the facade, knew exactly what she was thinking. "I like them strong. That makes breaking them that much more exciting."

The Talon nodded to his men, who had already proceeded to dangle their prisoner by her arms from a set of chains in the ceiling, so that she was hanging like a piece of meat at a butcher shop. The chains were unnecessary, Clifton knew, in his experience, it was always wise to crush or disable the prisoner's arms and legs first, making any chance of them escaping improbable, or even more important, any chance of them escaping and exacting vengeance on their captors, downright impossible. But there was a certain appeal of having his prisoner dangle helplessly from the ceiling, in full view of his men.

The rest of the Talon men whistled in anticipation. And the Talons watched as their leader walked to the limp prisoner. _Fine missy, you want to play war and start killing my men. Then you'll have your share of war. All of it._

Clifton tossed his cigar away. "I'll tell you what's gonna happen missy. No one's going to save you, your friends don't know where you are."

The battered girl remained silent, perhaps too weak to even notice.

Clifton lifted up her chin with his hand, looking at her straight in the eye.

"Your body is forfeit. Ain't nothing but another body to me. And me and the boys? Well, we can find all unseemly manner of use for it."

Defender Torres' face hardened, she had long ago lost the ability to form words in her shattered throat, so she did the next best thing.

She spat on Clifton's face, defiant to the end.

"Lovely."

Outside the shack, the winds roared even louder, drowning out the sounds of grunts, guttural moans, and grim laughter as they were swept away helplessly through the night.

* * *

Meanwhile, miles away in the underground base of Raven Rock, a gigantic pre-war ZAX supercomputer began processing the information gathered by dozens of Enclave patrols. It analyzed the data, giving one vast picture of the entire wasteland, from Rivet City to Adams Airforce Base. All factors, from radiation to mutation, was still within acceptable parameters. The impure mutations and wastelanders were still continuing their downward spiral of self destruction.

Within the millions of files and dossiers contained in its primary drive, one word suddenly appeared that matched up with data on several new field reports. _Purity._ In a single millisecond, it proceeded to calculate through hundreds of thousands of possible scenarios on the best course of actions to achieve its primary objectives. Ultimately settling on one most likely to succeed.

In the next millisecond, several dozen more orders were drafted and sent out via holotape and radio to every Enclave patrol and officer in the area. It was time to move.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

* * *

**Thanks for the reviews guys, and corrections have been made for Bale pointing out the power station was way outta the way from Bannister. My Capital Wasteland Geography has been kinda rusty ;) now that i have New Vegas hehe**


	7. Chapter 7: Reunion

"War! that mad game the world so loves to play." ~Jonathan Swift

**Chapter 7 : Reunion**

**

* * *

**

Defender Anne Marie Morgan had seen many strange sights during her tenure as the Outcast sentry, the occasional stupid raider that charges the automatic defense turrents, or Yao Guai chasing some screaming local. Stuff like that made standing around for ten hours bearable, but nothing prepared her for the two battered and injured Outcast soldiers that limped towards the fort. Blood was slowly dripping from one of the injured defender, while the other defender, had lost her helmet.

"You look like hell." was all Anne managed to blurt out.

"Good to see you too Marie, sorry for bleeding on your pretty little piece of real estate, but we could sure use some stimpacks!." Farsight yelled, prompting Anne Marie to run back to Independence. Aside from doubling as a base defender, she was also probably the closet thing to a medic on the team.

As Defender Morgan vanished through the doors of independence, Fitts and Colt ran out to greet their comrades, with Colt taking the wounded Kesler off of Farsight's shoulders and propping him up, dragging him towards the fort while the squad walked.

"Take it the locals weren't too friendly?" Fitts nodded towards Kesler, noticing the bullet-sized hole in his chest plate.

Farsight rolled her eyes. _Geez, thanks for making me feel at home captain._

"I guess they didn't appreciate all the 'rock' comments Colt keeps spewing out." Kesler coughed.

Defender Farsight added her own report. "We had a run in with the Enclave, then a whole new can of worms with Raiders and Talons." She proceeded to go over the details of the last few days, how Kesler and her had avoided increased Talon patrols in the area, after narrowly escaping the rocket explosions. Damn Raiders and Talons had managed to upgrade their equipment.

"The Enclave? They finally stirring out of their little hideout in Raven Rock?" Colt remarked.

Fitts nodded, taking in the report. It was a disappointment, and a relief at the same time, he didn't lose any of his squad mates.

"This is nothing new, we've been expecting this for some time since Morrill made his report."

"Well I'm glad you're both intact, because we got a job to do." The Protector nodded towards Colt, who was armed with a tri-laser rifle even as he supported Kesler on his shoulder.

"In a few days of course, first we'll have Kesler treated with some stims, a good night's sleep and we should be good to go." Fitts smirked, timing it just right so that Defender Farsight wouldn't have time to get into another one of her screaming fits.

"Aw." Colt shook his head in disapointment, it had been days since he shot anything.

"Just shut up will you….. Col-" was all Kesler managed to say before a black curtain suddenly shrouded off his vision.

**

* * *

**

Defender Kesler wasn't sure how many hours he had been under. The wound in his chest was still throbbing, but the fever, the fever he had caught made it worse. His vision was reduced to blurs, his power armor long removed, he felt around his chest for the bandage that was applied over the gunshot.

He sighed, each breath bringing more pain into his chest. Then he heard more sounds, another presence in the room next to him. And he turned to see the sight of Defender Farsight, in the same battle scarred power armor but without her helmet.

"So how're you holding up?" Farsight asked, nodding her head towards Kesler's wounds.

"Be thankful, without your power armor, that bullet would have liquefied your internal organs, probably explode your torso."

"And I thought I was the morbid one here." Kesler groaned, wiping the sweat off his head. "How long was I out?"

"Two days." She lifted up two fingers, "Colt's getting antsy around the base, shooting up giant ants and the occasional raider. He seriously needs to get his rocks off." Farsight snickered at her own joke.

"The Protector?" Kesler asked, no doubt Fitts was just as disappointed that they couldn't leave.

"Oh don't worry, he doesn't mind. Says we can't do our mission without you. But he also said that we'll be working together as a squad of four going forward."

Kesler nodded. Though that meant he would no longer be with the Outcast Wraith Squad, they were under Casdin's direct command anyway, and in good hands

"You've been watching over me this whole time?" Kesler asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"I didn't think that bullet made it that far down your skull. We took turns, it just happened to be my shift."

"Glad to see I'm so loved by my team mates." Kesler remarked.

"While we're on the subject of teams, I just realized something. I don't think any of us know your real name." Farsight mentioned almost offhandedly.

"Why's that important? I cover your ass, you cover mine. That's as much as we need to know." Kesler sighed, realizing this was perhaps the longest conversation he's ever had with a fellow Outcast, but then again, no one bothered to chat up an Outcast Spec ops member.

"No, I figured we're working together, we may as well know each other. You know that thing called trust? Works well within squads." Farsight said nonchalantly.

"Cassandra Farsight, nice to finally 'meet' you." She reached her hand out to Kesler mockingly, but he shook his head and chuckled.

"Cassandra, the far-seeing prophet, fits you." Kesler smirked, remembering the old pre-war books he used to read back in California.

"I'd be flattered, if Cassandra wasn't seen as some insane crazy person." Farsight took a second to appreciate the look of surprise on Kesler's face. "Yes, I read books too."

Kesler shrugged. "If the shoe fits…."

A quick jab in his ribs quickly sent Kesler reeling back in pain. "Not smart for someone whose supposed to think three steps ahead huh?" Cassandra said mischieviously. "Now, I told you my name, tell me yours."

"No." Was all Kesler said.

Farsight simply shrugged, putting back her power helmet back on. "Oh well, worth a shot. To be honest, I'm enjoying this conversation, this is the most I've heard you talk since you joined us, we should get you shot more often."

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Colt said as he ate another scoop of pre-war cram. "We're going to be heading into Brotherhood territory, running in the crossfire between the mutants and the Brotherhood, all just to get…."

"An important piece of technology." Protector Fitts finished off. "Something we'll need for our assault on Bannister, and perhaps tip the scales in our favour against the Brotherhood."

Fitts then pulled up a makeshift map of the D.C ruins, outlining his plan.

"From the information we received for Reilly's Rangers, there is a cache of weapons located in this area to the North East. We'll take an old underground sewer route to avoid detection."

"Reilly's Rangers?" Colt was the first one to ask, they never heard that name before.

"A local mercenary team, specializes in scouting."

The rest of the squad took the information in disbelief. "You mean we're going on the word of a local? I didn't know Casdin was that desperate."

"They are the best of the best." Fitts managed gruffly "Besides, better to have them risk their asses than ours. And they do provide good intel."

"Before we go however," Fitts continued. "Casdin wants us to scout the Falls Church area for some extra technology. Word has it the Brotherhood is starting patrols in that area, he wants us to get there first, and strip the area of any valuable tech before Lyons' men can get their hands on it."

"Does this mean bullets? Cause I'll tell you sir, Kesler had one a few days ago and from the looks of it they don't digest too well." Farsight snickered, to which Kesler simply grunted.

Fitts nodded, rolling up the makeshift map. "We'll get our fair share of combat for sure, that is why Casdin is entrusting this mission to us, and not any other squad."

Colt was the next to voice his concern. "You do know that also means we'll be going through ghoul infested sewers. On top of going through the Brotherhood and Super Mutants, them I don't mind but I can stand ghouls." The defender almost cringed in disgust at those abominations. Supermutants, they were fun to see their heads explode, but ghouls, they had an eerily human quality to them.

With a surprising speed, Fitt's threw one of the power armored helmets to Colt, almost knocking the Outcast back in his chair as he caught it. The spoon and cram the Colt was previously eating from fell unceremoniously to the floor.

"War's a bitch Colt. Wear a helmet." Fitts latched on his own power armor helmet.

"We move out within the hour. I suggest you say your goodbyes to some of the squads, because we're not going to be back here anytime soon."

**

* * *

**

Protector Casdin watched with detached calm as the next Outcast squad set out from Fort Independence to scout the Northern regions, taking it all in as he inhaled the next puff from his cigarette. The sun was setting, casting a deathly crimson red over the horizon, signaling to the wastelanders that it was time to bunk in. The only time that the Capital Wasteland became even more dangerous, was when the Deathclaws went out hunting at night. Flicking the cigarette off his fingers, he saluted Protector Morrill, recently promoted after the battle of Fairfax. He would try again to reach Fort Constantine, perhaps even investigate the rumors of a lost Oasis up north.

This operation in the Capital Wasteland was stretching them down to the last man. With the last batch of patrols sent out, plus the garrison at the outpost, Casdin perhaps had less than a dozen men and women on hand to hold Independence; this was after he detached Fitt's squad to the D.C ruins.

He tried to picture it in his head, the abundance of equipment and knights Lyons had under his possession, and he was throwing all that to waste to defend a few tribals. Now, his own men were struggling out in the dirt, trying to accomplish the original mission, while the Brotherhood's soldiers slept snuggly with a roof over their heads. It sickened him.

Power armored steps on concrete sounded from behind him, and Casdin turned to see a fully armored and heavily armed Protector Fitts and Defender Colt standing behind him.

"Hail Protector." Both Colt and Fitts greeted Casdin, saluting.

"At ease soldiers, are you set?" Casdin said as he placed his own power armor helmet on.

"Armed to the teeth sir." Colt blurted out, brandishing his AER9 class 6 Tri-laser rifle. "Although I want to go on the record sir that I'm pretty sure we're all gonna die." He said with a hint of sarcasm.

Casdin chuckled. "On that subject, how is your squad doing protector?"

"We've been better, but ready to go." Protector Fitts nodded.

"What are your thoughts on this mission?" Casdin had gone over the plan for hours with Fitts, but he was interested in hearing it from the rest of the squad.

"As long as the only interaction with the locals we have is from the bottom of my rifle, we're fine." Colt replied. The Brotherhood of Steel had historically been an exclusive and isolated society, Colt's viewpoint was not uncommon.

Casdin shrugged. "Something we can't avoid unfortunately."

Several more minutes were spent going over the last details of the operation, until the conversation took another turn.

"So, where are you both from?" The Protector asked.

Colt was the first to answer. "Came from Lost Hills sir, like most of us. My parents thought it would be a waste of my talents to be stuck underground for my life, so when they wanted kids to go with Lyons to establish a presence in the East, they signed me up. Not that I was old enough to understand."

"You regret it?" Casdin asked.

"Nah, not so much, mostly because of the heavy weaponry I get to shoot." Colt chuckled.

Next was Fitts' turn.

"My Parents were both Paladins, we came from Shady Sands."

The mention of the city was enough to send shivers done the Outcasts' spines.

"NCR Territory." Casdin remarked quietly. All of them knew of the recent NCR-Brotherhood war that had been going on. One of the reasons Lyons was sent eastwards was to locate some technology to help their brothers in the ongoing war.

"Yup," Fitts said flatly, as though he were tired of retelling the event. "NCR demolished our bunker there, killed them. The Elders in Lost Hills took us in and set us with Lyon's group. The rest is history."

Casdin nodded, knowing when to leave something well enough alone.

"Well, I'm proud to have you both in this outfit, I know we've all lost a lot of friends and family in this, but I promise you, their sacrifices will not be in vain."

"It's why I'm here sir." Protector Fitts nodded, then he gestured towards Farsight and Kesler, both heading towards him. "Think it's about time we move out now."

"Steel preserve you Protector. "Casdin saluted, which Fitts returned, as he and Colt set off eastwards towards the DC Ruins.

**

* * *

**

The silence in the last few hours could have been broken by a pin drop. The four person squad made their way past the sewer waystation. They were heading to a place called Grayditch, recently cleared of mutated ants by a mysterious third party.

Bored out of his mind, Colt decided to turn the radio on again, listening to the crazy rantings of Three Dog.

_"This, faithful listeners, is the story of a little boy. A little boy... named Bryan Wilks. You see, Bryan's from Grayditch, a small settlement that was recently overrun with overzealous Giant Ants. Bryan, sadly, was the sole survivor. That's where the kid from Vault 101 comes in, and where our story, thankfully, gets better. You see, not only did Miss Vault 101 stop the Ant problem, she also found little Bryan Wilks a new home. So if you see Bryan and his new parents, wish them all good luck. Oh, and 101? Nice work."_

"That kid again." Colt muttered under his breath as the radio went to another rendition of 'Maybe'. Although the Outcasts officially didn't care, he'd heard rumors being passed amongst his fellow Outcast defenders about this vault dweller. There was even word from the patrol at Megaton that they saw this vaultie making rounds between the town and Rivet City.

"That opens up Marigold as an option. We can head to Fall's Church from there." Protector Fitts nodded, obviously listening in on the radio as well from his helmet.

"No fire ants any more, but don't be surprised if some ghouls have moved in." Fitts reminded his squadmates.

The team nodded. Farsight already prepping a hunting rifle for close quarters combat, while Kesler and Colt charged up their tri-laser rifles.

**

* * *

**

The metro tunnels were dark, covered in ruins of old pre-war metro cars amidst the debris of humanity and scraps that had accumulated over two centuries. Bones, dead bodies, both long decayed and fresh, littered the old steel rail lines. They were a mixture of wastelanders, talon company, and raiders, their bloody corpses serving as a grim reminder that there were those that lived beneath the surface who called this place home, and they did not take kindly to intruders.

The metallic sound of steel scrapping and hissing on concrete echoed through the empty chambers, sending sounds for miles around, alerting the inhabitants that there were newcomers onto their territory. Claws and monstrous arms flexed in the darkness, following by a slew of wailing screams and inhuman snarls. Dozens more took up the cry, and from the wreckage, shifting figures, protruding exposed muscle and bone, and tattered clothes sniffed into the darkness, opening their eyes.

They wailed in unison, quickly making their way along the tracks. The sounds of more movement attracted the rest of the inhabitants, eyes glittering with hunger, and their irradiated hearts pumping adrenaline as they eagerly set out to attack.

The Ferals tasted blood.

**

* * *

**

"Oh Lordy here they come." Colt said with a sense of urgency as he and Kesler quickly took up firing positions. Fitts himself was standing to provide Farsight with cover while she aimed her scope down the tunnel.

Already the voices, raspy screams and hisses of the feral ghouls echoed the darkness, as though surrounding the Outcasts from every direction, but all of them knew where to aim.

"Frag out!" Fitts yelled, and both Kesler and Colt immediately pulled the pins off their grenades, one frag, the other plasma, hurling them down the tunnel with all the extra strength their power armor could afford.

The two grenades landed in the middle of the pack, and within a second, detonated. Flame and green plasma energy filled the narrow Metro line, throwing the thin, decayed bodies of the feral ghouls into the air. The fortunate ones caught in the middle of the blast had their entire bodies instantly disintegrated into bloody sacks of flesh, while others were simply reduced to irradiated plasma puddles.

"Fire at will!"

Farsight took a shot at a Glowing One, the tougher variant of the feral zombies which served as living conduits of radiation. In the darkness of the tunnels, they were the easiest to spot, and the highest priority to take out before they reached the squad.

The air shattered within the tunnels, echoing for miles around as Farsight's rifle literally shattered the head of the glowing one into pieces of jellified flesh. More laser fire erupted from the Outcast line, burning through concrete slabs, ragged armor, and flesh. The ghouls continued onward, oblivious to the pain, or perhaps, having long lost the ability to feel anything.

They fell as they were hit, some losing limbs and heads. But even after they fell, they stumbled and crawled forward. They advanced steadily into the hail of laser and gunfire, eager to satiate their basic need to feed.

"Don't fall back! Advance!" Fitts yelled in grim determination. Kesler pulled out his combat knife, even as he was firing his laser rifle one handed into the chest of the nearest ghoul. The monster stumbled as the laser fire kick started a chemical reaction in its body, instantly flash frying all the moisture in bones, organs and skin. The ghoul burned a bright orange as it fell backwards, reducing itself to ashes and cinders. Two more roamers attacked, these ones wearing shattered remnants of Talon company armor.

Although feral ghouls appeared rotting and malnourished to the outsider, in reality they were quite strong, their heavy radiation poisoning and mutation granting their DNA the ability to regenerate at an alarming rate. This was why they were able to live for centuries, much longer than the lifespan of any human. But this didn't make them any less killable.

Quickly grounding his feet, Kesler took the Ghoul charge head on, dislocating the neck of one of them with a power armored punch to the fist, while the other had a combat knife dug straight into its heart. Another ghoul leapt at Kesler, almost knock him off his feet until an armor piercing round splattered his head to pieces.

He turned to see Defender Farsight giving him a wave, before aiming for the next glowing one.

The dark metro tunnels lit up in a brilliant flash of red and green, as Fitts fired his plasma rifle with Colt's tri-laser beam, which scythed down more ghouls, burning a hole through three in succession.

Another ghoul crawled forward towards the Outcast, this one's body completely severed from the hips up. It dragged itself towards its prey, intent on feeding to the very end of its life. It had been a woman, once, still wearing the tattered remains of a pre-war dress. Lord knows how long she had to live down here like this. Decades…centuries even.

Fitts face softened under his helmet as he saw the ghoul, and watched as it dragged its eviscerated guts along the floor in some vain attempt to feed on them.

He stepped forward, unholstering his pistol and aiming it straight for the malnournished ghouls face, even as it reached out pitifully towards him.

"I'm sorry this had to happen to you."

He pulled the trigger, blasting the brains out of its skull.

More sounds, fire and laser filled the tunnels, piling up more bodies as the ghouls finally backed off from their prey. The armored ones had proven too difficult to kill, to consume. They would break off for now, and search for easier prey, weaker ones who wandered in the other parts of the metro, after all, the pack still needed blood.

A silence soon filled the tunnels, along with the bodies of the ferals, which now carpeted the floor.

"Alright Outcasts, let's move. Falls Church is just around the corner."

"Sir!"

* * *

**DSVII : And so we get some more clues as to our Lone Wanderer. Originally, I was thinking of making the LW a guy, but after reading so many good stories with the LW as a girl, i've decided to give this a shot. Look forward to see when they might cross paths :)**


	8. Chapter 8: Pride

"We left the West Coast in hopes of finding some new piece of technology, something we could use to rebuild the Brotherhood, or at least something better than what the wastes out west offered. Instead what we found was more of the same. Ruins, Super Mutants and a whole lot of death."

- Defender Anne Marie Morgan

**Chapter 8 : Pride**

**

* * *

**

_"You ever wondered what it's like up there? To be miles away above this wasteland." The girl wondered as she looked up at the peaceful night sky, illuminated by hundreds of stars.  
_

_"Never took you for a dreamy philosophy type." The boy smirked, playfully chewing on a toothpick he had found from the Pitt. Against the night sky, the entire city seemed to light up in a beautiful orange glow._

_The girl chuckled. "No, just wondering that's all. It just seems so free up there." She still remembered the first time she saw birds, actual birds flying in the sky. To be free up there, with no responsibilities, no worries._

_"Tsk. Tsk. getting lazy already huh? I get it. I guess i'll just have to take up the position of squad leader myself." The boy chuckled._

_"Over my dead body." The girl stuck out her tongue. "Just you watch, I'll be the best Paladin in the Wastes, just like my father, and I'll even have my own squad. No boys allowed of course."  
_

_"Good luck with that Daddy's girl." Her friend laughed out loud, slapping his knees as he fell back onto the ground, staring up at the stars with her.  
_

_She stuck out her tongue at her friend. "Well, maybe I'll make an exception for you. If you pull your weight." She said playfully._

_"And take orders from you? Dream on..."_

_"You s__till owe me one for that radscorpion..." The girl chuckled._

_"The thing surprised me ok? If I wasn't asleep, I could've easily..."_

_"Riiight."_

_The boy sighed, reflecting already at the year long journey they had taken from the West, and all that they had seen along the way. Nothing in the bunker really prepared him for life outside. "You think we'll be able to do it? I mean...be paladins. My Dad used to say that not everyone makes it, that it's hard work...Of course, it shouldn't be a prob for you. I bet you have the position all lined up."_

_"Don't be silly." The girl replied back. "If anything, father will make me work twice as hard. But who knows, I think we have a shot. Don't you?"_

* * *

The subway tunnel doors groaned as they opened, the steel doors hissing as they pour brilliant sunlight into the dank tunnels. Falls Church may have been beautiful once, a nexus for all the subway and metro trains in the DC area. Overhead, steel arches and girders formed a hollow cage around the ancient husks of old passenger cars and trains. Though over two centuries old, they were surprisingly intact compared to the ruins of the office buildings surrounding the area.

Yet Fitts did not have any time to appreciate this, having walked right in the middle of a torrent of laser and rifle fire. A quick scan already revealed a squad of Mutants taking refuge in the trains.

"Outcasts, fan out and flank em!" Fitts yelled out. Farsight had already taken up post behind a dilapidated bench, setting up her rifle shots.

Kesler and Colt rushed the mutants between the subway trains, who were focused instead on a target outside the station. A Brotherhood Paladin dressed in grey T45d armor.

_Just perfect. Brotherhood._

"Engage the Super Mutants, but if the Brotherhood shoots you, don't hesitate to fire back."

"Roger that Protector." Colt replied through the radio helmet.

Fitts crouched down beside a concrete barrier, eyeing a supermutant that was too busy aiming at the Brotherhood soldiers to notice the Outcasts popping in. The Mutie was armed with a hunting rifle, dressed in some makeshift armor made from metal scraps and car parts.

Fitts wasted no time. One shot from his plasma rifle crippled the Mutants head, and just as the monster was yelling, gripping his face, another shot in the torso brought him down between the station rails.

Two more mutants approached from the south of the station, these ones armed with Chinese assault rifles and wearing heavier metal armor. Brutes.

Kesler and Colt were clearing the mutants from inside the station, as the screams and gunfire attested. Fitts did not need to worry about his rear. Across there was a Brotherhood soldier, who was already pinned behind the concrete barrier, armed with an antiquated assault rifle.

The Brutes advanced, bullets chipping off blocks of concrete as they fired at the Brotherhood soldier taking cover. They were serving as a useful diversion for his squad.

"Take them out Farsight."

"Roger."

One of the Brute's head exploded into a cloud of blood and bone, while the other Brute suddenly noticed Fitts' presence, aiming its assault rifle at the Outcast. Fitts broke cover, running towards the mutant while letting loose several plasma blasts. The Mutant's clip ran empty, and he cursed just as searing hot plasma bolts burned a hole into his skull.

A pack of three more mutants emerged from the right, peppering Fitts and the Brotherhood soldier with bullets. Fitts felt the distinct 'ping' and bruise of an assault rifle round bouncing off his shoulder, but he kept moving, eventually finding cover in the concrete barrier beside the Brotherhood Knight.

Fitts quickly recharged his rifle with more fusion cells, firing blinding over the side of the barrier as he watched the Brotherhood soldier sloppily try to reload.

While the three mutants were firing at Fitts, Kesler and Colt enfiladed them with laser fire. One mutant had his arm torn off by precision lasers, while another was thrown back by a well placed round in its chest.

"PAAAIN!" The monster blurted out. Just before Fitts put down the last mutant with the Brotherhood knight, scything him down in a hail of bullets and plasma fire.

With the fall of the last mutant, the Outcast squad made their way towards Fitts. Trigger fingers ready and weapons raised, since the Brotherhood Paladin was still there. Although the mutants were gone, the bad blood between the Brotherhood and the Outcasts could potentially make this encounter lethal.

Fitts watched as the Brotherhood Knight quickly turned, aiming his rifle at him. Both Kesler and Colt trained their rifles at the soldier, ready to put him down.

Underneath his helmet, Fitts grinned, and if the Brotherhood Knight was surprised, he certainly didn't show it.

"Are you going to shoot me Paladin?"

"Give me one reason not to, deserter." The Knight said grimly.

"My squad may have something to say about that." Fitts said seriously, gesturing at Defender Farsight, who already had her sniper rifle trained on the Brotherhood soldier. "Do anything dumb, and...well, you'll look kind of silly running around with no head."

Another voice broke the silence.

"That's enough Paladin. Stand down."

The Brotherhood soldier tensed up for a second, but grudgingly lowered his rifle, the rest of the Outcasts followed suit.

Fitts turned around to see another Paladin, this one armed with a flame thrower, make his way towards the Outcasts.

"My name is Paladin Hoss."

"Protector Fitts."

The Paladin nodded slowly, he had already recognized the voice, having served with them for the better part of the journey from Lost Hills together. "Truth be told, I didn't expect to, nor did I want to see you again, especially like this. But I thank you for your aid."

"That was not our intention Hoss, you just happened to be along our way, but if you get in our way, then we'll have a problem." Fitts said seriously.

Hoss nodded. "Fair enough, however, i'm not so blind as to disregard you completely. I'll be blunt, we're in need of aid. If you're willing, you're welcome to join us."

Fitts almost wanted to laugh at this. The Outcasts...aiding the Brotherhood?

"Fuck off boy scout." Colt shouted. "We're not here to help you."

"You want to go you piece of shit?" The second Brotherhood Paladin trained his rifle towards Colt, but a gesture from Hoss quickly made him back down.

"Calm down Colt." Fitts turned back towards Hoss. "What's going on?"

Hoss, relieved that his old comrade was at least willing to listen, began. "We were performing a training exercise with one of the initiates when we were cut off by the super mutants."

The Brotherhood Paladin then pointed towards an office complex. "We saw him flee into a building up ahead during the attack, but before we could link up with him, we were pushed back."

"Training locals Hoss? Seems like a waste of your talents." Fitts remarked.

"Believe me, I'm not that much happier with it myself, but these are my orders from our elders. And unlike your outfit, I follow them." He said this with a hint of reproach, but not enough to be taken for outright hostility.

"Go on." Fitts nodded, not bothering to even reply to that remark.

"Well, thanks to you, we've cleared this area, we can press forward and recover the initiate. Hopefully he is unharmed."

Kesler was listening in, could not help but wonder why Fitts was entertaining this notion. "What's in it for us?"

The Paladin grumbled. "Aside from saving a fellow Brotherhood soldier?"

"These tribals are not our fellow soldiers. Nor will we ever accept them as such." Fitts put in bluntly.

Hoss nodded. "Lyons had ordered a squad to salvage this area for tech. If you help us save the initiate. I'll give you first dibs. No one needs to know this though."

"We got some time to kill, don't we fellas?" Kesler and Colt nodded.

"It's a shame to see how low the Brotherhood has fallen." Fitts said patronizingly.

"At least we follow our code." Hoss replied harshly. "Now are you in or not?"

Fitts nodded, "You got yourself a deal Hoss. The last of our deals. But if I see you scrounging in our territory again. Ain't no guarantee I'll just put a bullet in your face than see you you off nicely."

"Wouldn't have it any other way..._ 'Protector'_"

Fitts nodded to Kesler and Colt. "Farsight, stay here and keep an eye on the Brotherhood bastards, Colt, Kesler and I will move in for the initiate."

"Roger." The three outcasts began running for the comlex.

"He's up ahead in that building. _Don't stop._" Hoss shouted

* * *

"Are you sure this count is accurate?" Casdin said, a worried look etched onto his face.

Defender Anne nodded. "At this rate, we'll only have enough supplies for the next two weeks. After that, we'll need to start scavenging for mole rats."

They were doing the inventory stock for Fort Independence, not the most exciting of tasks, but the scarcity of resources dictated that they manage their supplies to the last drop of water.

"Water supplies, we have enough for another month, the wells in the fort dried a long time ago. Unless you prefer to drink the irradiated stuff." Anne said.

"As if we don't have enough problems already." Casdin rubbed his eyes. "How about the locals. Megaton, they have to get their supplies from somewhere. We just have to find out where.

"Rivet City sir." Anne replied, knowing the answer. "They are the prime supplier of purified water and radiation free food in the Capitol Wasteland, something about their team of scientists experimenting on purification processes."

"Do we have squads near rivet city?" Casdin personally loathed the idea of negotiation with locals, but he preferred that to starving troops.

"At the moment, no sir. The Brotherhood have heavy patrols in the area, and there are also super mutant camps near the city."

"Still, we should be able to contract a Caravan. Provide an escort..."

"No good if we can't reach them first sir." Anne remarked.

"Then we'll have to find a way won't we..." Casdin was not one to give up easily. There were rumors he had picked up from the scavengers and locals at Megaton. A man whose name kept popping up. Perhaps he may be able to get the Outcasts access to the city. But there weren't any squads on hand. He would have to rely on what he had in the field already.

"Send Fitts a message Anne, it should reach him by the time he's done with his mission."

"Your will, Protector." Anne saluted, then proceeded to work on the encrypted holotape.

* * *

"Damn you! Talk you weak-kneed, superstitious, soft-skinned, uneducated piece of irradiated Brahmin shit. Talk!" The brass knuckles went to work again, pounding into the swollen face of the prisoner as the punch chipped another tooth away. He was tied to a chair in some dark, undisclosed room. Blood already pooling onto the floor from the previous beatings, while on the table next to him, were medical instruments varying in degrees of sharpness and size.

"Take it easy soldier, we need him alive. Not half dead and insensate." The power armored hand pushed the assailant away, letting the man continue coughing and choking on his own blood.

Defender Sibley simply spat on the vault dweller, earning him a frown and reproof from Protector McGraw.

"Listen, I know Sibley was rough on you. I'm sorry. I really am." The Protector said in a sympathetic tone. He had practiced this several times with Sibley in the past, the whole 'good cop, bad cop' routine. Sometimes he figured Sibley just enjoyed it way too much, took it too far.

"Gary? Gary?" The Vault Dweller said, dazed and obviously confused. That was all he had been saying for the past day they had detained him for. At first McGraw though Sibley may have hit him on the head too hard, now..he wasn't sure anymore. What he was sure about though, was that this Vaultie had a Pip-Boy 3000 attached to his arm, usable only when authorized by the subject's DNA, which was why they had to secure this man's cooperation.

If only they could get him out of the whole act first. And if they had to beat him out of it until he talked normal. So be it. This guy was proving tough though. So McGraw decided another approach.

"Come on, speak to me Local." McGraw said flatly.

"Gary?" The vaultie seemed to take in his surroundings, realizing where he was. "Gary!"

"Right...you can drop the act now. I'm not here to hurt you." McGraw suddenly caught his own fist tensing, he had kept this act up for hours now, and seemingly it was going no where.

"Speak for yourself sir." Defender Sibley watched the exchange with amusement.

"Shut the fuck up Sibley!" McGraw yelled in frustration. "Let me work..."

He turned back to Gary with a heavy sigh.

"Look, I'm tired. You're tired. We're all fucking tired of this act. Just remove the Pip-boy and we can part ways."

"GARY? GARY!" The man suddenly shouted, completely aware now that the strangers around him were the ones who had been tormenting him for hours on end.

McGraw turned around instantly to Sibley, his temper snapped.

"You know what? **FUCK THIS**. Hand me that saw, and turn off that recorder."

"That's the nicest thing you've said to me all day Protector." Sibley grinned, then handed the bloody hacksaw to the Protector. They quickly went to work.

Meanwhile, outside the room, the rest of the Outcasts heard nothing but the whirring of an auto-saw, the sickening crunch of blood mixed with squishy meaty sounds, and the ominously disturbing scream of the Vaultie.

"GAAAAAAaaaarry..."

* * *

Defender Farsight sighed as she lay in the ruins outside the building, covered under a cloak of rubble and dust. Unbenownst to Paladin Hoss and his companion, she was keeping them both in her sights in case they tried something funny.

She never knew Hoss during her days with the Brotherhood, but she still felt a tinge of regret that it had come to this. All the memories of that fateful day in the courtyard of the Citadel, when the two camps separated. She would hope that she would never have to pull the trigger on her former comrades.

"I thought snipers were supposed to be attentive to their surroundings." A voice behind her suddenly caused Farsight to jump up, but she turned just in time to see the barrel of a gun pointed at her.

"Fancy seeing you here..."

* * *

The old pre-ware building was a ruin, perhaps serving as a school as evidenced by the lockers and ruined desks. But for the Outcasts, they knew that even the most harmless looking areas were potentially riddled with dangers. As Defender Colt learned as he narrowly avoided a slab of concrete and steel girders that crashed down on him when he opened a bathroom door.

"Last time I try to sneak into the ladies." The Outcasts said uneasily as he rubbed his shoulder, where the armor had dented from the direct hit from the trap.

"Shut up, and be quiet, I can hear them." Kesler said as the three man squad snuck through the hallways, where a pack of Super mutants were standing.

The Outcasts quietly slid the old wooden door open, filing into the room as they charged their Plasma and laser rifles. They took refuge behind a steel desk, looking through a hole in the plaster wall.

"Pick your targets." The three Outcasts scanned the room, each man settling for their own super Mutant.

* * *

"What you think? Bored?" The Super Mutant Brute yawned as he shouldered his rifle.

"Never! Those squishy Brotherhood soldiers were fun. Don't you think? Worthless flesh things." The second Brute laughed bluntly.

Towering above them, was another Super Mutant, this one heavily armored in reinforced scrap metal, even sporting fighter pilot head gear and goggles. His weathered muscular frame contained many scars, as though he had been in many battles.

"Shut up the both of you! Or did you forget why we are here?"

"To get...more of the green stuff!" The first Brute said in a fit of epiphany.

"Right. and you don't get green stuff by standing around saying stupid things!" He smacked the super mutant brute on the back of his head.

"Ow!"

The super mutant master grumbled. He did not recall much since his birth at Vault 87, except that he had this unexplanable need to create more of his brothers. Yes. More brothers, more green goo, so they could take back this wasteland from the ignorant humans. After all, they were the future.

Before he could smack his subordinates on the head again. The Brute's head exploded in a flash of red laser fire. The Master looked at the source of the gunshots and saw three of the armored tin men, but unlike the other ones they had fought, these ones were covered head to toe in black.

"Humans!" The Master shouted at the rest of his uncomprehending squad, at least seven more mutants armed in varying degrees, from sledgehammers to assault rifles."

"I got them! YAAAAAAH!" the Super Mutant with the sledgehammer ran straight for the armored tin men, swinging at one of them, but missing clumsily, only to be disintegrated into dust by one of the humans shooting from the corner.

"RARRR!" The Brutes fired madly, showering the room with assault rifle rounds that pierced slabs of concrete and tearing holes in pre-war desks and doors.

The armored men barely flinched as they advanced from cover to cover, bringing down his brutes one by one. Aiming for limbs, and heads.

One such brute screamed as he was blinded by the laser shot in his eyes, dropping his rifle, the weakling began rubbing his face.

Taking no more of it, the Master charged forward, knocking the brute down, he saw the first Outcast and aimed his chinese assault rifle

"AH! There you are! Scream! Scream for your worthless life!"

Before the Master even finished unloading his clip of bullets, a green bolt emerged from the corner of the room, engulfing his vision and before he even dropped dead on the floor, his entire body.

* * *

"Sector clear." Kesler said through the filtered, sanitized microphone in his power armor helmet.

Fitts nodded quietly, shouldering his plasma rifle as he viewed the carpet of green corpses that littered the room. These muties never seemed to learn.

"Alright, fan out. Let's find the initiate."

It did not take long for the Outcasts to locate the shivering initiate. He was dressed in merc combat armor, not even in Brotherhood recon armor. That did not surprise Fitts, as even the Brotherhood wouldn't waste precious equipment on a local. The man seemed young, in his mid twenties, with red hair and a scared face. This young pup seemed too clean for being a soldier.

The young man saw the black power armored figures in the doorway, quickly jumping up. "Thank god someone's come, you have to help me, please!"

"So, you're a representative of the mighty Brotherhood of Steel? You're a disgrace." Colt said mockingly. Even Fitts could not contain his disgust. What was Lyons doing by diluting the quality and toughness of the Brotherhood with these maggots?

"Calm down. We're here to help." Fitts offered.

"Oh, thank god. Paladin Hoss sent you, didn't he? I knew he wouldn't leave me behind. When we were attacked. We were cut off so quickly. My gun jammed and I never even got a shot off. I couldn't do anything but hide."

Fitts could tell now why Hoss was pissed. He wouldn't waste a second of his life training such useless sacks of cannon fodder.

"Don't worry about it. Just keep your head down, and we'll lead the way." Fitts said grudgingly.

"Ok, sure, I guess." The initiate said nervously.

As the four Brotherhood soldiers emerged from the building, Fitts saw Paladin Hoss and his sigh of relief at the initiate being alive.

"Good to see you Fitts."

"You have my thanks."

"Just remember our deal. We get the technology in this area, this place is off limits to you Brotherhood for now." Fitts said with a note of finality in his voice.

"I'm afraid that deal just won't do Protector." A new voice emerged from behind them, and both Paladin Hoss and Fitts turned to see a new squad of Brotherhood soldiers enter the fray.

Seven members of the Brotherhood of Steel, armed to the teeth with Gatling lasers and miniguns all pointed straight at the Outcasts. To his dismay, he saw Defender Farsight standing next to them, with her arms raised as two of the Brotherhood Knights, both armed with sniper rifles, trained them on her head. In the centre of the pack, was the leader of the squad. The familiar face of the girl he once knew, yet now she felt like a stranger. Her eyes were hardened, and her lush blonde hair and skin weathered and darkened by dust and grime.

Defender Colt gave a low wolf whistle behind Fitts, before being jabbed into shutting up by Kesler.

"Sarah Lyons." Protector Fitts said the name blankly, as though it held no meaning.

Sarah quickly raised her rifle, charging the laser battery as the rest of Lyon's Pride did the same. "That's Sentinel Lyons to you. Traitor."

* * *

**Dun dun dun! What will happen next? ;) Ty for the reads and reviews btw!**

**Undeadshark: I used to think that too, but i still give the Outcasts props, after all. It takes balls to talk down to someone in Hellfire armor armed with a Tesla cannon ;)  
**


	9. Chapter 9: Heart of Steel

**Chapter 9 : Heart of Steel  
**

"_The Brotherhood was dying, we all knew it, but the elders refused to see reality. More of our brothers died each year, while we kept turning away good able bodied recruits. Lyons put two and two together. He finally realized that we had to become more than just a cult living in a hole in the ground. He gave us a purpose again._

_Paladin Vargas, Sergeant of Lyon's Pride_

_

* * *

_

Blood dripped, bones crushed. The sounds of metal scrapping on concrete and dripping blood echoed through the quiet streets, along with the guttural laughs of many more brethren. It did not take long for them to finish off the raiders, the last one already having his pieces squirming inside its mouth. More than anything, the scent of blood made the rest of them howl, the battle cries of hungry predators.

They were a pack, as long as they had remembered. There were no more words, not more meanings. Just the scent of the prey, and the thrill of the hunt.

More screams emerged from the ruins, as the smaller brethren began ripping the metallic shelters the puny flesh things hid behind. More gunfire, more prey. They were soft, barely armored. Easy to kill and digest. Kill the weak, capture the strong. That was what they had to do. Capture them. To make more.

It tossed the body it had been chewing on away casually, like a rag doll. This group was too easy. More prey, more battles, more food, was needed.

The distant echoes of gunfire caught the attention of the beast, as well as the pack, and the group howled in pleasure and anticipation, finishing off the last of the weak meat things before storming forward.

More blood. More meat.

* * *

The courtyard of Falls Church fell deathly silent as Fourteen members of the Brotherhood of Steel faced each other, weapons aimed and trigger fingers tensed. The tension was so thick that it could be cut by a dull knife. Lyon's pride had the jump on the Outcasts, but Fitts and his squad acted instinctively.

The only warning Paladin Hoss received was a power armored slam behind his leg, knocking him down to his knees, a split second later he felt the pressure of Fitt's arm wrap around his neck, along with pressure of a rifle barrel on the side of his head. Kesler and Colt did the same, quickly disarming the Paladin and Initiate Pek, holding them hostage. Colt had the Paladin dead to rights, while Kesler held a combat knife to the terrified initiate.

"So what are you going to do now Sentinel? Shoot us all?" Fitts masked his apprehension in his voice. Of all the forces to meet out in the wasteland, it had to be Lyon's pride, the self proclaimed best squad in the Capital Wasteland, probably because they had nothing to challenge them but raiders. However Fitts was not interested in seeing how his outnumbered squad would fare against them, on unequal terms.

Sarah Lyons herself showed no emotion, although she was quietly impressed by the training of the Outcasts, who had grabbed the only advantage they could in the situation without so much as a whisper to another.

Paladin Hoss almost choked as he looked to Fitts, gripping his captor's arm.

"There's easier ways to get yourself killed Fitts." The Brotherhood soldier gasped.

The Paladin was rewarded as Fitts tightened the grip around the Paladin's neck, choking the air out of him. "Yeah Hoss, like shouting at the guy who has a gun to your head."

He quickly looked back at Lyon's pride, all of them still aiming their weapons at the Outcasts. This was like a bad re-enactment of that day, when the entire chapter had almost broken out into a bloody civil war. Something of a smaller scale could happen here, and everyone knew the only thing that kept this situation from dissolving into a bloody mess, were the two leaders.

"So what's it going to be Sarah? You're going to shoot us all?" Protector Fitt's shouted, not willing to be the first to back down.

One of the Paladins raised his weapon at Fitts. "Drop them, or we drop you Outcast!" Paladin Glade shouted from behind Sarah. But the Sentinel raised her hand to quiet her fellow Brotherhood member.

"You know you can't win." Sentinel Lyons said.

"No, but I know you can't either." The Outcast protector replied, "Now, I propose a trade. You give us back our man, and we'll give you these three."

Sarah showed nothing as she heard the offer, but Fitts kept his guard up. She didn't build a reputation as the best tactical leader in the Brotherhood of Steel for doing nothing.

"Didn't know you Outcasts cared for human life."Sarah said with a tint of amusement.

"We value our soldiers above the wasteland scum." Fitts replied.

"I've seen Wastelanders take down more super mutants than your lot. While you're scurrying for the scraps at our table, we're making a difference." Sarah shot her own fierce gaze at Fitts. "How long can you expect to last when you shut yourself out from the world?"

"As long as we need to Sentinel. Now are you going to give me my squad member or not?"

Sarah said as she gauged what Fitts was offering. Inwardly, she cursed herself for the bad luck of running into one of these patrols. Although her father had officially exiled these men and women from the Brotherhood, they had not received any orders from the Elder as to how to deal with them, although many loyal soldiers would have preferred to shoot them on sight, many were still old comrades, and the old bonds died hard.

"You think you can just walk away from this?" Sentinel Lyons said softly.

The Protector simply chuckled at the Sentinel's remark. "Maybe not so much, but you know you can't take us down without crippling your squad. And you're not in the business of losing men."

"And if I refuse?" Sentinel Lyons said, without a hint of weakness in her voice.

Fitts shrugged, letting her do her own reasoning. "Then this will be all of our graves."

Defender Colt shivered as he heard the words, could not resist whispering over the built in helmet radio to his squad leader.

_"Protector, being the leader and all, aren't you're supposed to say something like 'it's my responsibility to be in this fight, if the rest of you want to flee, do it while you still can….or….'you guys go ahead and escape, I'll stay and hold them off._" Earning a chuckle from both Outcasts.

Fitts smirked beneath his helmet, oblivious to Sarah Lyons as she contemplated his offer. _"What are you talking about Colt? Isn't this what you came out here for? To fight and die rather than rot away in some wasteland bunker?"_

_"You're preaching to the choir sir."_ Colt chuckled._  
_

Fitts then turned to the Lyon's Pride. "So what will it be, wasteland dogs?"

His reply came in the form of a single gunshot, shattering the morning air.

* * *

_"I am very disappointed with the latest results Colonel. Thus far, despite our patrols, we have been unable to locate the target." _President John Henry Eden, commander in chief of the Enclave forces, said with reproach as he continued the conference call with his military commanders. A dozen Enclave officers sat around the table, their heads hung in shame at having failed at their orders._  
_

Colonel Augustus Autumn stiffened in his seat instinctively, he alone knew that he was being reprimanded by a damned computer. Only he had seen what the 'president' was in person. But he had to maintain the charade, if the semblance of order and unity that held the Enclave together was to remain intact. Oddly enough, very few people questioned how someone could have been president for at least thirty years._  
_

"Of course, Mr. President, I understand. But know that we are devoting our full military resources to the retrieval of the subject. I only ask that you be patient for a bit longer. We have several leads on where the targeted is headed next, we just need to give our scouts time to pick up the trail."

The president chuckled softly through the voice projector.

_"You can rest easy Colonel, if there is one virtue I am in abundance of, it is patience. Have we not operated out here for over thirty years? I have complete confidence in you and your officers. But the American people are expecting results soon. We must be more vigilant."_

Colonel Autumn nodded softly, though the hollow irony of the word was apparent to every around him. The American people? The ones who set up slaver posts in shopping malls while tearing each other apart for scraps of meat, those American people?_  
_

"I am in complete agreement Mr. President, that is why i've doubled our patrols around the outskirts of the Capital. We will have the subject in custody by month's end. I assure you."

_"Very well colonel, I trust you will do us proud. Eden, signing off."_

The phone conference ended, and with that, a heavy deflating of tension in the room followed as the Enclave officers relaxed._  
_

"Agent Sigma." Colonel Autumn waved his hand for his right hand man, and elite squad leader, and already, a power armored Enclave officer, flanked by two heavily armored Tesla troopers approached the Colonel.

"Have two Vertibird assault squads prepped for launch to the Jefferson Memorial, I'll relay telemetry data from one of our patrols down by Vault 112 to you. I'm expecting our guest to show up there shortly." Colonel Autumn said smoothly, businesslike. Two vertibird squads, consisting of ten troopers. More than enough to occupy the memorial from its civilian owners.

"But sir." Agent Sigma began, "Didn't you just tell the president we have no idea where our target was?"

"Yes, but I also know when to keep my cards close, imagine the look on the president's face when we tell him we've achieved all our objectives by tomorrow." The Colonel grinned slightly, while the Enclave officer nodded in understanding.

"Now go."

Sigma saluted, then ran to prep his teams. Colonel Augustus Autumn meanwhile, radioed his chief of staff.

"Have my personal transport prepped. I want to see the president's pet project for myself." If the encrypted reports he had gleamed out of Eden's databases meant what he though, there was a valuable opportunity for the Enclave here.

The enclave operator on the other end relayed his acknowledgment. "At once Colonel."

* * *

Elder Lyons watched the quiet ruins of D.C uneasily from the ramparts of the Citadel, word had already come from the patrols in the D.C ruins. The Super Mutants were focusing their efforts on the downtown core. Driving Brotherhood forces back from their road outposts. The Brotherhood currently had enough manpower to maintain a tenacious hold on GNR, the Monument on the hill, and Arlington. Several more squads were spread out in undisclosed outposts, but even then they were few in number.

He sighed wearily as he rubbed the bags forming beneath his eyes. He and Rothchild had been hard had work, restoring the technological marvel they had found within the Citadel, but also at coordinating Brotherhood patrols. The Super mutants were becoming more belligerent. Not just stumbling onto patrols by mistake, they were beginning to move in packs. And with more purpose. The source of the mutants too, was another mystery, one that added onto the piles of work already on his mind.

He smiled to himself, taking the time to enjoy the quiet serenity, he wondered too, just how long his work here would take, and where the Brotherhood would go from here. He already received the reprimand from the high elders, but he knew that they were powerless to stop him.

_Was it the right thing to do? Am I taking us on the right path?_

His superiors, even one of his closest friends, Henry Casdin, had accused Lyons of 'going native', putting the needs of the wastelanders above the Brotherhood, twisting the original ideals of the order. But Lyons had seen it another way, the Brotherhood's goal was to rebuild the world, what better way than to protect those that dwell within it? To share the gifts that the Brotherhood discovered and lift humanity up.

He grimaced at the memory of the schism, the raw hatred and emotions that had spiralled out of control that day in the courtyard, when his chapter fractured under his watch. It was a shame he would bore to his dying day, even as he branded those he had come to trust through years of battle as outcasts.

The Elder shook his head at the memory, gripping the handrails of the ramparts tightly.

_Henry my friend, I hope you are alive, but one day, we will have to come for you..._

As the Elder turned around to the steps back below, he turned once more towards the city, swearing he felt the ground rumble a bit.

* * *

Falls Church erupted into a sea of bullets and flame as the standoff suddenly dissolved in the face of a super mutant onslaught. A pack of Mutants, numbering two dozen, alerted by the far off sounds of gunshots, quickly tore through a makeshift car barricade from the East.

Fitts himself, felt a painful jab in his shoulder as the .32 caliber hunting rifle bullet bounced from his armor.

Sarah Lyons immediately grasped the danger of the situation. "Pride! Battle formations!"

_Thank god. Super mutants._ Fitts managed to say to himself as he quickly dropped Paladin Hoss and made a bee line for the Pride fire line towards Farsight. Kesler and Colt followed, pushing their hostages down onto the ground and making the rush for their squad mate. The new batch of super mutants were brutes, armed with Chinese assault rifles, but a few sported pre-war mini guns, their barrels already tearing concrete slabs from the ground as the unloaded towards the Brotherhood soldiers.

Initiate Pek was down, huddling behind a bench while Paladin Hoss dragged his fellow Paladin behind a pre-war car. The Outcasts did not stop running even as the Pride advanced, quickly forgetting their Outcast prisoners and concentrating on the larger threat. Defender Farsight quickly elbowed Knight Dusk under the shoulder, running towards her comrades while the Pride was distracted.

"Squad! On me!" Fitts yelled in his battle helmet radio through the hail of gunfire. Explosions started erupting around the plaza as the Mutants flung their stocks of frag grenades at the Brotherhood soldiers. Spouts of earth and concrete stone flew into the air, bouncing off the plated armors of both Outcast and Brotherhood alike.

Knight Colvin meanwhile, instinctively aimed for a brute at the fore front of the pack. The Brute's head flung back as the sniper round deflected off his scrap metal helmet, and it ran towards the Brotherhood soldier screaming in rage. Two gatling lasers from Kodiak and Glade quickly cut the creature down, but explosions soon force both soldiers to take cover. Two more masters emerged from the smoke, heavy chain guns tearing up the ruined cars that Hoss fell behind.

One of the Mutant's head exploded that instant, his body flinging wildly on the ground.

"Two mutants released from their torment." Colvin smirked as he quickly brought another one of the smaller, younger super mutants down.

"Colvin!" Sentinel Lyons shouted out, just as a brute swung a sledge hammer into the Knight. In that instant, Colvin felt his insides crush as the armor dented inward, the force of the blow throwing him several feet back.

Sarah cursed herself as she watched the melee ensue. She knew she had lost the Outcasts, but they were nothing compared to keeping her own men and women alive. Twenty mutants had attacked as a pack, pushing themselves into the centre of the plaza, while her own squad and the Outcasts were being forced to the edges. It was lucky that the supermutants were too dumb to develop any sort of tactics, the Brotherhood and Outcasts were hugging the outer edges of the square, taking cover and pouring into the mutants as they filtered into the middle like a bunch of gun-toting morons.

The Sentinel watched to her left, as the Outcasts assembled behind a makeshift barrier across the plaza, whatever issues they had discussed quickly died with the emergence of the mutants. Perhaps that was for the best for now.

Giving Fitts a quick nod, the Sentinel and her pack went to work, firing from behind cover while the Outcasts provided unspoken support.

"SCREAM humans!" The mutant master laughed maniacally, blatantly ignoring the fact that his brothers around him were being batted down by Brotherhood lasers and bullets.

"Outcasts! Fire at will!" Fitts ordered as his squad assembled. A stream of tri-laser beams scythe their way into the mutant crowd. One super mutant staggered back as it was shot in the eye, only to have a mini-gun toting brute knock him out of the way, firing a torrent of bullets at the Outcasts. The monster recoiled back as armor piercing sniper rounds deflected off its shoulder and chest plates, before finally being brought down by a Brotherhood rocket.

Like all battles in the capital wasteland, it ended quickly, the pack of super mutants forming a clump of green corpses in the square.

_"All clear Sentinel. Five Mutants released from their torment. The rest are keeping their heads down._" Colvin pointed towards the East, in the hole of the barricade, where several more mutants held back, seemingly having the presence of mind to realize that they were walking into a death trap.

Sarah Lyons gave a breath of relief, before finally turning back to the Outcasts, before she could walk towards them however, she stumbled slightly.

The ground started rumbling.

All eyes in the courtyard suddenly turned eastwards, as the super mutants huddling in the wreckage of the cars began moving. The groaning of steel resounded in the distance, while flocks of birds began dispersing from the neighboring buildings. A loud, guttural roar quickly filled the street, as the ground shook, each tremor reverberating louder and louder, displacing rocks and pebbles around the ruins. The Outcasts and Brotherhood alike looked up to see a tall green mutant temporarily block out the DC skyline as it emerged from the ruins.

"BEHEMOTH!" Knight Kodiak shouted as he ran back from the front lines.

"Outcasts! Fall back to the station!"

"Pride, on me!"

Both leaders instantly gathered their squads as the giant monster rushed towards the Brotherhood squad without unanticipated speed. In its hand was a large steel girder, easily weighing several tons. The mutant gripped it with no more effort than a kid and a baseball bat.

"Weapons free! Fire at will!" The Sentinel and every Brotherhood soldier fired on the monster. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air as high intensity rounds and laser fire impacted the monster, but it did not even phase the creature as it hit one of Hoss' Paladin's dead on with the beam. The Brotherhood soldier barely had time to cry in surprise as his torso exploded into a geyser of blood and flesh, pummeled by the steel girder. His body was thrown several dozen feet clear of where he stood. Initiate Pek scream in terror as he ran towards the pride, while Hoss fired his flame thrower at the creature, causing it to roar as it's lower body was covered in liquid flame.

Knights Colvin and Dusk meanwhile, pumped several armor piercing rounds at the creature's head, but the sniper bullets barely grazed the creature, as though it was impervious to pain.

The Outcasts fired as well, aiming for the head but finding even their tri-laser rifles had no effect. Just as the monster finished swinging its weapon to knock a car towards three Brotherhood Paladins, it eyed the black armored outcasts that had been firing at it.

"Everyone get down!" The four outcasts jumped apart, narrowing avoiding the giant beam as it hit the ground with such force that it forced slabs of concrete up from the ensuing crater.

This was getting them no where, and Farsight emptied another five bullets into the monster's skull but to no avail. Colt, his tri-laser rifle smashed in the scuffle, picked up one of the super mutant assault rifles and began firing into the creature, who was seemingly bullet proof all over.

Then the idea suddenly dawned on Colt.

The took careful aim again, firing straight at the monster's face. It did not take long before the Behemoth roared in pain. Stumbling back as its left eye exploded from the chinese round. White eye matter and blood dripped down its face as it clenched the wound with one of its hands.

The Behemoth stared at Colt, red rage written all over its face.

"Aw crap." Defender Colt yelled as watched the giant approach him, and _him _alone.

"Run you idiot!"

Colt pumped his legs as fast as his power armored suit could let him. Charging past the dumbfounded super mutants at the blockade while being pursued by the Behemoth, its each step shaking the very ground. _God, what I wouldn't trade for a Fat man right now._ Sweat ran down the Defender's forehead as he cleared the square, then he eyed perhaps the next best thing. A clump of pre-war cars and trucks.

_Here goes nothing._ Colt pushed back against the maddening adrenaline and fear, and took another breath.

He turned for the cars, unholstering his assault rifle just as his pursuer was gaining on him.

"Defender! Get back!" Protector Fitts shouted after his squad mate, just as Colt let loose a stream of assault rifle rounds into the wreckage of the truck and three surrounding cars, which had already begun to burn as the pre-war fusion engines lit up.

The entire plaza shook violently as the resulting blinding flash and small atomic blast tore through the ruins and barricades. Sending the nearest of Brotherhood knights and Mutants off their feet. Windows shattered, and the gale force winds tore doors and street signs apart. A storm of concrete, steel and glass blasted into every direction, impaling super mutants, and power armored soldiers. Fitts laid back for a few seconds, his eyes still adjusting through his cracked visor as he saw the bright light of the explosion and flames subside. The Behemoth took the full brunt of the blast, losing the top part of its skull and its right arm. Blood gushed freely from its wounds as it limbered for a second, before dropping dead on its back a second later, throwing up a second cloud of dust and shaking the ground once last time. A nearby building collapsed, cutting off the section of the street beneath tons of rubble and concrete.

The Outcasts, and Brotherhood watched in silence as they took in the scene.

"Colt, come in." Fitts said as he tried to reach the defender via short range radio. "Come in!" He slammed his radio helmet violently.

Kesler pulled up next to Fitts, already shaking his head softly at the scene.

"We need to search the area, pull him out of that rubble, at least retrieve his holotag..." Defender Farsight said softly.

The rest of Lyon's pride gathered behind the Outcasts. And just as Fitts was expecting them to take them all prisoner. He found Sarah Lyons, of all people, giving him a salute.

"I am sorry for your loss Fitts, I know it isn't much. But I will personally make sure the Defender's name is recorded in the codex. I just wish it didn't have to-"

Fitts raised his arm, stopping Sarah mid sentence.

"...Just stop talking Sarah. The time for that passed a long time ago." His voice hard as iron. The Protector turned to face his squad.

"We continue on with the mission, to the national armory."

Kesler and Farsight watched sullenly, realizing what Fitts meant. The Protector nodded towards his squad mates.

"I'd expect the same from you two if it was me in that situation. We know Colt, we know what he would have expected from each of us. Now let's go."

The Outcasts gathered their equipment, then moved onwards, leaving Lyons pride behind with the burning corpses as they trudged deeper into the city.

* * *

**Undeadshark** - Very true indeed, but probably because Lyons Pride never really had an equal challenge in the game, since they rode on the coattails of liberty prime :)

**Will Freedom -** Funny thing is, I wrote his name in as that on my first draft...must be a subconscious thing...:)

Thanks for reading folks! more to come!


	10. Chapter 10: Collector

**Chapter 10: Collector**

_"The lord enjoins us to love our enemies. He never said anything about them ceasing to be our enemies just because we love them." _

_- A_nonymous Outcast Defender in reference to the Brotherhood of Steel

"_Standard Outcast operations should emphasize the direct avoidance of combat, preservation of manpower and equipment is regarded as the highest of priorities."_

_ - _Protector Henry Casdin

* * *

"Frag out!" Defender Sibley yelled as he primed the frag grenade in his hand, tossing it into the plaza. His fellow Outcasts took cover behind the concrete barriers of GNR plaza. The explosion shook the air, shooting flame and debris flying in all directions. A Brotherhood initiate fell backwards, clutching his face in bloody agony as burning shrapnel punctured his light recon armor, searing his face and eyes.

More of the traitors emerged from the cover of the radio station. Sibley himself recognized Knight Sergeant Wilks wielding a flamer as he tried to burn the Outcasts out of their cover. Jets of flame lanced across the square, and Sibley cursed as his minigun clicked empty, the whirring barrel winding down as it ran out of ammunition.

Even a diehard like Sibley had to admit, it wasn't the brightest of ideas to bring his squad so far into the D.C area when Protector McGraw simply wanted him to scout ahead, but he had a lot of scores to settle with the Brotherhood, them having kicked him and his squad out of the citadel and all. But the salt in the wound was choosing to recruit from a pack of tribals. He didn't want the Brotherhood to simply forget their betrayal, he wanted them to feel the consequences.

A bullet pinged off his shoulder plate, quickly bringing him back to reality.

"Defender, I see a squad of tribals flanking us." One of the defenders pulled up beside Sibley, pointing towards a pack of T45d armored troops making their way across the square.

The mere thought of tribals using brotherhood armor and weapons made Sibley's blood ran red. Reloading the minigun with another munitions box, he quickly stood up, spinning the barrels as he let loose a torrent of fire their way. Heavy chain gun fire ripped through the square, chipping away masonry, concrete and eventually, Brotherhood armor. Two tribals ducked behind a pile of concrete rubble, clutching their wounds in agony, while Sibley laughed with a mixture of hatred and condescension.

"Fuck you Outcasts!" Knight Dillion shouted in rage, though bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds that punctured his armor, he couldn't take watching his fellow troops were being mowed down.

Defender Sibley suddenly felt hot pressure slap past his face, as well as several piercing punches on his torso and chestplate. The first rounds slammed into his helmet's rebreather, snapping his head back and temporarily disorienting him.

The second Outcast quickly dived towards Sibley, taking the next burst of bullets in his shoulder that was meant for the Defender's throat. The Outcast fell to the side, crying in pain. More gunfire erupted as Brotherhood reinforcements, _legitimate_ Brotherhood knights made it to the scene, bringing with them an assortment of heavy weaponry.

"Time to move out." Sibley grunted, never having lost his respect for the destructive firepower of a well trained Brotherhood platoon. He signaled the retreat, and the outcasts soon vanished back into the ruined buildings, while Sibley himself retreated slowly, stepping back and firing shot after shot into the Brotherhood forces…..

* * *

_"Tensions continue to mount between the courageous forces of the Brotherhood of Steel and their estranged brethren: the Outcasts. Now, normally, family squabbles are none of my business...but when the Outcasts decide to take potshots at my building—which the Brotherhood uses as an outpost—I make an exception. So, Brotherhood Outcasts, knock it off! I prefer not to get murdered in my own backyard. The rest of you Brotherhood cats, can't you extend an olive branch or something? You'd think fighting the Super Mutants would be enough."_

Protector Henry Casdin turned off the radio, furious at the callous and unnecessary battle reports he had received within the hour. It was bad enough that Sibley broke protocol by actively engaging brotherhood targets, but worse, now it was broadcast to the entire Capital Wasteland to hear. Lyons would not let this go unanswered, and already he had ordered McGraw to kick Sibley's ass into line and fortify the urban outpost they had tenaciously set up.

Casdin sighed, rubbing his eyes as he settled back in his chair, patrols around Constantine, specifically Protector Morrill, had reported increased sightings of Enclave activity, even several VB-02 Vertibirds had taken off from Raven Rock, heading for an unknown destination. The Vertibirds were the crown jewel of the Enclave's active military forces, allowing them the ability to project their power over vast distances, while increasing their ability to safeguard ground assets and move troops. They were the envy of every military force from the Shi in California to the Brotherhood of Steel out East. Before their time ended here, Casdin secretly vowed to secure one for the Brotherhood.

The Protector meanwhile, got back to work. Tracking the progress of his squads as he overlooked a map grid of the Capital Wasteland that his teams had salvaged from Vault-Tec headquarters. Specialist Olin had been helping him get the system back online in between her shifts at the that and an impromptu tracking device. In time, Casdin was hoping that he would be able to obtain somewhat up-to-date telemetry data on the location of his squads. Something he knew Lyons, with all his numbers, would have a far more difficult time to implement. It was an advantage he would use to the fullest once he had the system up and repaired.

The Brotherhood had remained within the DC ruins for now, content to fight for the city street to street with the Super mutant menace. It was a stalemate at best, Cadsin assessed. The Brotherhood were too spread out, and under-equipped to wipe out the mutants, but on the other hand, the mutants were too dumb and uncoordinated to make full use of their numbers to overrun the Brotherhood.

Good. Keep it that way, let both of them tear each other apart while we pick up the pieces.

Casdin suddenly heard the click of a door opening, and he looked up to be greeted by a whiff of hot coffee.

Defender Anne Marie Morgan nodded towards her commander, placing the cup of coffee besides Casdin.

"Heard you were up all night protector, figured you would need some of this." Morgan said helpfully as she slid the cup to the protector.

"Your service is noted Defender." Henry grinned, taking the coffee with savouring sips. Out here in the capital wasteland, when food and water were scarce. Coffee, not to mention, coffee with sugar, was a great luxury.

"How are the troops holding up?"

"I saw Morrill's men come back yesterday. They reported that they were still unable to go through the steel doors Fitt's and his team had encountered, but they've had some clues on where they may get the keycards to access them."

"Any casualties?" This was the part of the conversation Casdin dreaded. At the moment, counting non-combatants such as Olin, they had perhaps thirty one members remaining in the Outcasts. Since the assault on Fairfax, where they had lost three troops, the casualties thus far had been mercifully lighter.

"Morrill had a concussion from a Deathclaw his squad encountered after they left Fort Constantine, but aside from that. Nothing."

Morgan, aside from being the commander of the garrison, also doubled as the Outcasts' team medic, running Fort Independence's medical facilities, qualities that quickly made the Outcasts respect her, even conferring to her the title of Casdin's unofficial second in command, despite her role as a Defender.

"And what is Fitt's progress to the national guard depot?"

"We've yet to establish radio contact with him, but our best guess is he should be reaching it within the next day or two. Our scouts and trackers reported minor skirmishes in their area, knowing Fitts, he's keeping low."

Casdin nodded quietly, the Brotherhood may have the big guns, but the Outcasts had the best scouts and trackers in the wasteland, Reilly's Rangers aside.

"Defender Rockfowl's also reporting that he's getting some progress on the truck. A few more senor modules and fission batteries, we can get the old engine back up and running."

"Good," The Protector nodded, the old army truck outside of Fort Independence was almost two centuries old. Replacing the old pre-war engine and augmenting the rusted frame became one of Defender Rockfowl's pet projects when he wasn't defending Independence bridge. Casdin himself doubted whether Rockfowl would get the truck moving, but he did not deny that it would provide the Outcasts with a crucial advantage in their fight against the Enclave and Brotherhood. "That, plus the technology I'm expecting from the national guard depot will give us the advantage we need."

"What is this technology sir, that's so important."

"According to our reports from the Codex. The National guard Depot was home to several secret military research projects. it contains some heavy weaponry, perhaps enough to give us the advantage over the Enclave's veritbirds."

"And the giant weapon the Brotherhood possesses? Liberty Prime?" Anne Marie wondered.

The Protector chuckled. "Let's not get too optimistic, nevertheless, it will give us a great advantage."

"I hope you're right sir. But that still doesn't solve our equipment issues. We've been unable to contract a caravan to Rivet City."

"Then we'll have to find some other ways." Casdin remarked. "Maybe enlist a local who knows a thing or two."

"You're suggesting we follow Lyon's doctrine?" Anne said, slightly amused.

"Not join us per say, but I never had anything against paying someone to do our dirty work. Locals can get to places we don't have access to, that in itself is valuable."

"And we're to believe that some local would just volunteer themselves to do this?"

"Why not?" Casdin replied. "We hear about a crazy one on the radio doing stuff all the time, chances are there are more of them out there, and when they show themselves, we'll be ready."

* * *

Defender Sibley was never one to take to authority, but even he fell quiet when he saw the hard gaze of Protector McGraw, as he and his squad limped back to the Outpost fort. A squad of Lyon's soldiers had followed them from GNR, and it was only with heavy persuasion from McGraw's squad that had convinced the Brotherhood soldiers to break pursuit. That did not change the fact that he had suffered two wounded in the exchange.

McGraw was almost beside himself with rage, clenching his fists, his voice was barely restrained.

"_What have you done Sibley._"

The Defender, expecting the Protector to be grateful they were alive, was taken aback.

"Just giving those traitors and tribal lovers some payback."

"And almost lost your squad in the process." McGraw finished.

"Sir, I-"

Sibley barely had time to get a line out when McGraw punched him flat out across his face, blood spewed from the Defender's mouth as he crumpled backwards against the wall. The rest of his squad watched the exchange quietly.

"_That_, was for being a dumbass and almost getting you and your squad killed.

"Ok! THAT'S IT!"

The Defender, not one to back down from a challenge, gave a low cough, then snarled in rage, preparing to rush McGraw, but before he even had a chance, he was looking straight down the barrel of a pre-war laser rifle.

The rest of the Outcasts held their breath, watching as Sibley stood there, nose bleeding, but never taking his eyes off McGraw. Everyone in the room tensed as the two soldiers stared each other down.

Protector McGraw never dropped his gaze either.

"Now think very carefully Defender." McGraw said in a deathly serious tone. "You've been strutting around like you own the world for a while now. I'll tell you this. No one is impressed. They wouldn't mind you as a corpse."

The Protector charged the laser rifle, and even Sibley was starting to have second thoughts. Sweat dripped slowly on his forehead.

"Now you have two choices. You can luxuriate in the brig below, or you can choose to fight me. But if your hand touches metal, I swear that I will end you."

After what seemed like an eternity. Sibley backed down.

"Fine, have it your way _sir_."Sibley dropped his weapon, while McGraw nodded his head towards another Outcast, who escorted him out.

"Don't think this will go away quietly Protector."

"Get him out of my sight." The two Outcasts saluted, escorting the defender out.

When Sibley left the room, McGraw let out a sigh.

"You know you could have handled that a bit more gently." The Protector turned to see Specialist Olin standing by the doorway, who watched the whole scene.

"Could have." McGraw said gruffly as he massaged his wrist. He had considered that option, and for anyone else on his squad he may have let them down gently, but for someone like Sibley, who would have strutted around the outpost bragging about how he stood up to the Brotherhood and his commanding officer, he would give him nothing.

"He'll have to be watched closely." Olin advised cautiously.

"He'll be lucky if i ever let him hold a weapon again." McGraw said tersely, but even he knew that the Outcasts were so short on manpower they'd have to rely on Sibley at some point in the future.

He massaged his wrist again. "I'll do as you say. If we're lucky, we should be able to breach the vault soon, then he'll be Casdin's problem."

"If we're lucky." Olin smirked.

* * *

The next day at Fort Independence showed more promise, the science teams and several squads had returned to headquarters to resupply and rest, in preparation for the next patrol. Fairfax meanwhile, was reporting almost zero raider activity.

Defender Anne Marie sighed as she took her post at the sandbag wall in front of Independence. The night before, Morrill and the science team were busy celebrating their return from Constantine.

It was one of the few moments that Morgan enjoyed herself and relaxed, truly felt happy for their band of misfits. She had seen them too many times in the infirmary, tending to their wounds and caring for them. For all their hard work and struggles in the wasteland, for one night, they were allowed to forget all their troubles that one evening, fire barrels warming them up under the night sky while the troops got drunk and had fun.

Now it was back to reality,, a hangover and watching tumbleweeds fly across the capital wasteland. Groovy.

Anne Marie turned on the radio, listening to see if anything was new.

"_Don't you deserve that America? Don't you deserve a future free of war, of fear..."_

Of course. The same thing that was on every day. She sighed again, wondering if anything interesting were to happen in the same fucking spot she stood for almost a year.

A distant gunshot quickly broke her concentration, and she watched in the distance as two shabbily-clad figures approached independence. _Raiders_. Thank god something to shoot.

Anne smirked underneath her helmet, not even bothering to call up Casdin. These were probably just stragglers from the Raiders in fairfax, or just random wanderers. Whatever it was, they were too dumb to see what they were heading towards.

Then, just out of the corner of her eye, she caught something. Two more figures. One of them was a girl dressed in leather armor, accompanied by another local. Both of them seemed oblivious to the dangers of the incoming raiders.

Defender Morgan charged up her laser rifle, shouting at the incoming strangers.

"Keep your head down idiot! Raiders incoming!"

The stranger quickly gawked her head to the east like a moron, quickly spotting the two raiders, each of them armed with hunting rifles. Anne Marie quickly activated the auto-turrents, which let loose semi-automatic bursts at the attackers. Morgan herself, fired her laser at one of the raiders, grazing them while the two locals attacked them.

One of the raiders went down screaming, his torso burnt clean through by Marie's laser. But to her surprise, the last raider was taken out almost effortlessly by the newcomer, who almost casually killed the raider girl with little to no effort, her head bouncing lifelessly on the ground as the hunting rifle round impacted her skull.

Morgan almost considered training her rifle to the newcomers, almost on instinct, but she saw that the girl had already shouldered her hunting rifle, taking her sweet time stripping the raiders of their weapons, ammo, and anything else of value, before proceeding to greet Defender Morgan. Upon closer inspection she saw that the girl wore augmented leather armor, with the faint scraps of an ancient vault tech uniform tied around her waist. She seemed weathered and experienced, despite her young face, her skin was tanned almost brown by the sun, while her hair was auburn, bangs flowing freely on the side of her face, while the back of her hair was tied in a small pony tail.

Then out of all the things she's seen in the wasteland, this one took the cake. Next to her, was another man, this one wielding a combat shotgun and wearing his own leather armor. Only this one was missing most of the flesh on his face. A Ghoul. Nothing unknown from these parts, but there was something different about this one, the man showed no emotion, save for an almost perpetual frown that accompanied him whenever he glanced at the Outcast. This was no ordinary local for sure.

Defender Morgan, not one to be intimidated, quickly approached the pair.

"If you're going to get yourself killed out here. Do you mind doing it a little further away from our bunker? I don't want your corpse stinking up our little patch of heaven." She said with a taunting sneer.

The girl chuckled at this, to Anne's surprise. Usually the locals were too much in awe of the Brotherhood Outcasts or too dumbfound to react so casually.

"Yeah, I'd hate it if my corpse ruined this lovely wasteland. It'd clash with the drapes." She gave her companion a friendly jab in the elbow, but for some reason that did not even elicit a response from him. The ghoul simply crossed his arms as he watched the exchange quietly.

Anne was not one to back away from a challenge.

"Yeah, red would never go with all this brown." She said sarcastically. "But if we remodel and still need a corpse. We'll call you, 'kay?"

She smirked beneath her helmet, _ok, the girl's got guts, i'll give her that. But that doesn't change the fact that she's a local._ She holstered her rifle, feeling comfortable enough since the two weren't hostile.

"I'm Defender Anne Marie Morgan of the Outcasts. Good to have someone else out here who can keep up." She jerked her head towards the two raider corpses that they had left on the landscape.

The girl nodded at the compliment, then for the first time, seemed to be genuinely curious. "So...who are you people?"

Anne simply shrugged, as though she had answered this question a million times. "We call ourselves the Outcasts, we collect technology to preserve it from tribals and idiot locals."

_i.e You_

The local raised an eyebrow at this, then took a quick look towards her companion, who was _still_ crossing his arms in that annoying defensive gesture and frown._  
_

Defender Anne already knew what she was going to say next."And before you ask, yes, we were cast out from that company of zeroes, who call themselves Lyon's Brotherhood of Steel. Way we figure it, if traitors think we're too harsh in following orders, we're probably doing something right" Judging from the face of the local, this girl already had a run in with her former comrades, but whatever she thought of them, the Defender could only guess at.

After what seemed like an eternity, the newcomer spoke up. "You collect technology? I'm on my way to something serious and I could use a few spare parts myself. How do I sign up?"

Anne almost wanted to laugh at that remark. "We aren't recruiting kid. Old sap Lyons might trust walk-ins, but we don't."

Then, she suddenly thought back to Protector Casdin, the conversation they had the other day. Maybe this kid _could_ be useful...

"Look, if you want to help out...well, we might be able to work out a deal. You bring in technological devices, and well pay you a finder's fee, based on the device. But Protector Casdin would have to okay it first."

The newcomer took a second to contemplate this, but she was as decisive as they come.

"Sounds good, I'm in." She reached her hand out to Anne, like a saleswoman closing a deal.

"Whoa! Slow down there. First you'll have to talk with Protector Casdin. You can work out the details with him." Anne jerked her head towards fort independence, where already she saw Protector Casdin emerge from the front doors, wondering what the ruckus was about.

"No worries. I know the drill." She said nonchalantly, as though she had been through these kinds of negotiations many times.

"You got a name kid? I was kind enough to give you mine." Anne said, almost as an afterthought.

"Yes...but at the moment, it's not important." She stuck out her tongue at Anne, who chuckled in amusement.

"You're right local," Anne said gruffly. "It's not. Now go, the Protector's expecting you."

And with that, the Lone Wanderer left, meeting face to face with the leader of the Outcasts.

* * *

**Thanks for the reads and reviews everyone!**

**Deathsidhe - I know what you mean! first time i tried breaking in, i got destroyed by the robots :( i never did figure out the keller family transcripts... XD**

**ChrisJM89 - Thanks man! I'm glad you're enjoying this take on the outcasts! Reconciliation? Well...i'm still deciding on that one ;) but i hope you enjoy it as the story moves along.  
**


	11. Chapter 11: Respite

**Chapter 11 ****: Respite**

"After all, they say, everyone knows how to make another human, but the secrets to making a P94 Plasma Rifle are all but lost." – Elder Lyons

* * *

Protector Henry Casdin had seen many faces during his tenor as a squad leader of the Brotherhood, and the young weathered woman who walked towards him was no different. She strode confidently, unphased by the presence of armored soldiers nearby or uninterested. Her eyes carried with them experience that was well beyond her years. Unlike the others who had succumbed to the wasteland, she was strong enough to withstand it, and she knew it too.

The ghoul was no different, and Casdin noted the professional demeanor he kept as he entered the gates of Independence with her. Although his weapon was holstered, there was no doubt that the Ghoul could have pulled it out and fired at them all within an instant. There was a sort of tension with the man, who seemed to never let his guard down.

Defender Rockfowl pulled himself from working on the rusty old truck, watching curiously as the young woman and her ghoul body guard stopped right in front of the protector.

"Hi, I'm looking for someone named Casdin." The young woman said nonchalantly as she stopped right in front of the protector.

Casdin felt a slight annoyance at her casual demeanor, but nonetheless he begrudgingly admired the girl's grit.

"It's _Protector_ Henry Casdin, Leader of the Brotherhood Outcasts. This had better be good. Normally I wouldn't be wasting my time talking to a local, but Morgan tells me you can make yourself useful."

"It can't be any worse than some of the other crazy tasks people have been getting me to do." The girl said casually.

"How is your combat experience?"

"Enough." The girl nudged her head towards the ghoul body guard, who just grunted in response.

"I see." The Protector gauged the unlikely pair, if the reports from Three Dog had any semblance of truth in them, he was probably looking at the most dangerous people to ever walk the Capital Wasteland right now. There was no doubt in his mind that this local had a run in with Lyons' Brotherhood, what she thought of them would be a subject for another time, there was no need to complicate this transaction with unnecessary distractions.

"So interested in collecting technology for us?" Casdin asked, getting straight to the point.

"Of course, what sorts of technology are you looking for?" The girl shifted slightly in her armor, the heat was getting a bit unbearable.

"The usual." Casdin replied, "Plasma rifles, Laser rifles. Fusion cells The works. I'll pay you a premium on any power armor that you bring in as well. "

The wanderer smirked, evidently eager to continue on with her journey to where ever she was going.

"I'll get started immediately." Before the wanderer turned around though, Casdin noticed the green wrist computer strapped on her arm.

"There's one more thing local." The Protector added in.

"And that is?"

"If you ever find yourself at Bailey's crossroads, we have an outpost there that could use your assistance, I don't need to mention that if you help us there, it will be worth your while. I'll let my men know of your presence."

The lone wanderer seemed to hesitate for a second, but ultimately decided that it was legit.

"I'll think on it."

Casdin nodded with approval. "That's what I like to hear. You can start immediately. You'll report directly to me, I'll take in your gear and dole out your pay. Get a move on."

"Don't have to tell me twice, let's get going Charon, we're late enough as it is, Dad is expecting us back at the memorial." She jerked her head to her Ghoul partner, and before Casdin could say any more, the wandering pair left the compounds of independence, heading eastwards.

Defender Rockfowl was the first to raise his objections

"Do you think it was wise to contract her Casdin? For all we know she could be sympathetic to Lyons. A spy."

"It's a standard collection job, so there's nothing to worry about. If anything, she may prove to be quite useful in the future."

With that ambiguous thought, Casdin gave the worrying Rockfowl a pat on the shoulder before walking back to independence. The sun was setting soon, and there was much to be done before night fell.

* * *

Protector Fitts watched the campfire blankly as he sat, rifle leaning against his shoulder. It had been two days since the battle at Falls Church, and the strain was already getting to him.

Around him, Kesler and Farsight had already gotten to work, securing the last of the dead mutants and piling them up behind the steel barricade. They had moved across the ruins quietly, avoiding the battles between the Brotherhood and the Supermutants, staying to the sidelines, avoiding detection. The way towards the National Guard Depot was wraught with dangers, from Sentry Bots, Talon patrols, to full out super mutant packs.

Tonight, they had taken shelter within one of the makeshift supermutant strongholds, a circular fortress that was carved out of the street, made from twisted steel girders and concrete rubble. The former inhabitants were dead, their bodies piling near the ends of the barricades along with the corpses of their wasteland victims.

"Enjoying the view Protector?" Fitts looked up to catch a glimpse of Defender Farsight, her black armor casting dark shadows in the firelight. Her helmet was off, and she let her lush brown hair flow, running down the back of her shoulders.

"Just thinking is all Farsight." The Protector replied, frowning at the sudden interruption of said thoughts.

"Mind if I join you sir? Kesler has the first watch." She let the rifle rest against the makeshift shelter they had constructed, confident that nothing would get past a specialist such as Defender Kesler.

"You'd best get some sleep, we have a long day ahead." Fitts remarked.

"I can say the same to you sir." Farsight said, abeit uneasily, it was a tough thing to get close to her commander, the wall he built up always there.

"Well, I appreciate your concern for my well being." Fitts threw another stick into the fire, not feeling the energy to argue with his subordinate. "So what brings you to my little happy corner of the world?"

"Nothing sir, just talk that's all. It has been a while since we've exchanged anything other than orders."

"Comes with the job." The Protector replied in his usual laconic tone.

"You can't be working all the time." Farsight chuckled. "There must be a time when even the mighty Protector Fitts lets his guard down."

Fitts was almost tempted to reply with anything, even a cliched line, but he simply chuckled, grateful to at least be talking after so many days of dreadful silence, and thinking. A small part of that weight had at least parted.

"Sometimes, I wish I could." Fitts almost whispered, surprised the words had even come out of his mouth like that.

"Why is that sir?" Defender Farsight asked, with just as much curiosity.

"In all honesty, when this is over Defender….. I don't think I want to go back. Maybe not even back west. I'm tired, tired of this wasteland and the fighting."

Farsighted shook her head. "Fuck, you_ do_ need a vacation sir."

Fitts wanted to chuckle at that joke, but he simply settled down, staring once again into the fire, thoughts still heavy on his mind.

"It's about Colt. Isn't it?" Fitts asked, having already guessed the purpose behind the whole campfire sit down. Hell, he never chatted it up with anyone in his squad before. He supposed that made him a bad leader, but having lost so many of his men in the past, he never wanted to get attached to anyone. Let alone another squad mate who happened to be very attractive in the low glow of the campfire.

"If that is what you want to talk about. Then yes." Farsight said patiently, "I know he was the first of us to join your squad. You two had quite a history I hear."

Fitts, relieved at the temporary distraction, chuckled at the memory, still remembering the wet-between-the-ears look Colt had when he saw his first set of Power armor.

"You could say that, we had trained together in our first days as recon units. He was always a joker that one, always wanted the biggest, baddest heavy weaponry, I bet you snipers would have a field day with him." Fitts grinned, recalling the days when things were simpler.

"Never did get a chance to break out that 'compensating for something' joke." Farsight snickered. "I guess there's more to this story?"

"You could say that, our first meeting was just a routine patrol we had somewhere far away from the Capital Wasteland, to procure lost Technology."

"Heh, I hardly knew you guys back then, I think Gunny was still kicking my ass as an initiate for not doing enough _'girly_ push ups', rat bastard." She kicked a cloud of dirt into the fire at the exclamation.

"I could use a good campfire story though." Farsight smirked, tucking her knees under her chin, relaxing herself while watching playfully as the flames danced

Fitts sighed, not really feel like retelling it, but he found that it helped him get his mind off a few things.

"Well, I guess i should start from the beginning...ever heard of a place called Point Lookout?"

* * *

A short chapter, to set up for what I have planned ahead...

**Sabor364** - Thanks sabor! Yes, it's a shame the Outcasts didn't figure more into the main quest, considering how much vested interest they have in who controls the Capital Wasteland. Something I will address more on later ;)

**DeathSidhe**: Sibley was always a jerk, and yes, i had to incorporate the Lone wanderer somehow since he/she does interact with the Outcasts personally, don't expect to have any more focus on her though, this is the Outcasts's story. Thanks for the info on the tapes...i'll see if I can make good use of that :) I also think it was a tragically missed opportunity that Casdin and Lyons never saw each other during the game...


	12. Chapter 12: Halycon Days

**Chapter 12 ****: Halycon Days  
**

_"My Brothers may be gruff, but they will lay down their lives for you._"

- Knight Captain Colvin, Lyons Pride

* * *

The boat jostled violently as it made its way down the Potomac. It's old pre-war engines running with a low rattling noise that seemed to cut through the quiet stillness of the empty shores. The Captain watched with satisfaction as he paced the upper decks, content to let the current of the stream take the ship down river, away from the Capital Wasteland and into the former state of Maryland. He didn't know much about the pre-war geography, save for the maps he found stowed away the day he bought the _Duchess Gambit_. It had been a great business, one that was quickly picking up. Thanks to the arrival of the soldiers who called themselves the Brotherhood of Steel, the communities of the Capital Wasteland were protected enough from the Super Mutant to begin trading. Rivet City, Underworld, even Big Town in the far west. And he, Tobar, captain of the only sizable boat in the Capital Wasteland, was not blind to the need for his transport, and his right to charge exorbitant prices to any passengers who deemed to use his boat.

That was of course, any passenger that wasn't packing heavy power armor and sporting an array of heavy weaponry.

"Are we there yet Ferryman?" Tobar turned over his shoulder to see the outline of a Brotherhood Paladin standing impatiently above deck, the laser rifle handing casually off the sling on his back.

Tobar instinctively took a lick of his finger, holding it up against the faint breeze, a favorite trick he did to impress and awe his usual passengers, but the Brotherhood soldier seemed unphased.

"We're making good time," The riverboat captain said confidently. "Though I can't imagine why'd nice fellows like yourselves are interested in going to Point Lookout."

"Just keep the engines running. And be sure to rendezvous with us at the agreed time. You'll receive the other half of the payment upon extraction." Before Tobar could even reply, the soldier disappeared below deck.

* * *

"Oh god. Just lay me down." The Initiate gave one last gasp as he ducked his head down, emptying the contents of his lunch into an empty black bucket.

"psst...Get a load of the newie." Knight-Captain Sarah Lyons smirked as she gently elbowed her squad mate in the ribs.

The 'gentle' jab unfortunately, was amplified by the power armor Sarah was wearing, which quickly jerked Knight-Sergeant Fitts out of his day dream.

"God damn Sarah! Almost dug my rib into my kidney." Fitts coughed uncontrollably, while Sarah simply laughed at her friend's discomfort. "Sometimes I think you're doing this on purpose."

"Can you blame me for forgetting?" Sarah said casually, "We almost never take this power armor off. Unless you count the time we snuck out of Gunny's Initiate training." She chuckled playfully.

Fitts snickered to himself, before assuming the authoritative air. "Keep it down Sarah, we got to keep up appearances in front of the newies after all."

"Always so serious aren't we John Fitts? Getting too old for this already?" Sarah Lyons smiled, at twenty years old, they were the youngest to be promoted to the rank of Knight Captain in the Brotherhood chapter.

"Heh, well unlike you, I don't have daddy to pull my ass out of the fire."

The next jab into his ribs was not so gentle, but Sarah still had that smile on her face, with the beginnings of a sarcastic smirk.

"Okay, Okay. I get it." Fitts grinned in reply.

"It's not like I'm not pulling my weight you know, being Daddy's girl had nothing to do with being one of the top in marksmenship class." Sarah remarked, crossing her arms as though it ended the discussion right there.

"Second, you mean, I recall someone from the Brotherhood Hawkeye squad besting your score." Fitts added with a smile.

"Just you watch Fitts, one day, we'll have the best squad in all the Brotherhood!" Sarah exclaimed. "And you'll be a fine second-in-command."

"Great...Just the demotion I was waiting for." Knight Fitts said stoically.

Sarah sighed, and was about to add more until she heard another 'plop' go into the Initiate's bucket. "Whatever you say Fitts. In any case, I don't think the initiate has enough sense left in his head to understand what we're talking about. Isn't that right newie?" Sarah gave the initiate's bucket a kick, which she instantly regretted as the contents splashed up into the initiate's face. Her face flushed as she realized what had had happened. Fitts and the rest of the squad however, simply burst into laughter.

"What's going on?" An authoritative voice shouted from above deck, followed by the heavy stomps of power armor on wood.

The Brotherhood initiates and knights stood to attention, removing their helmets as the two Paladins made their way down.

"Knight Captain Lyons, you seem to be the center of this," The paladin gestured towards the spilled contents of the bucket, and the helpless initiate. "Report."

"It was nothing Star Paladin Cross. Just getting to know the new initiate that's all." Sarah said nervously, and Fitts nodded in assent.

"You do realize this is a serious recon mission young lady, not your private party." The second Paladin spoke out now, and Sarah instinctively tensed up when she saw the other Paladin unlatch his helmet, staring at her coldly. As Elder Lyon's second in command, Paladin Casdin had that effect on his subordinates, even worse was that glare he gave her whenever she walked past him in the Citadel. She knew he was friends with her father, and that he would look out for her, but recently the relations between them had strained, and she felt it as he treated her differently from his other recruits, at a much higher standard. The 'special' treatment Fitts usually joked about came in the form of extra training and tasks no other Initiate or Knight would have been assigned. Then again, Sentinel training was unlike anything the Brotherhood Knights had, but she wasn't sure how much of it was due to the training itself, or Casdin.

"No Paladin Casdin," Sarah said, skillfully making her face into a mask. "You are correct."

"Sir, I can vouch that the Knight Captain meant no harm, it was simply to help the men with their morale."

"We can talk about that later Knight-Sergeant Fitts." Casdin quickly latched his power armor helmet back on. "We'll move out soon. Get prepped."

* * *

The landing at Point Lookout was a former pre-war mall that was built next to a set of docks. Windows and doors were shattered or boarded, and the concrete buildings were beginning to crumble after two centuries of decay. A small gust of wind blew across the scene, spewing litter and debris over the abandoned stands and shops, while the air seemed to be hung in a perpetual misty grey.

"I'll be back at the landing within two days, just as we agreed. Hope you folks enjoy the sights." Tobar gave the squad a friendly wave, just as the _Duchess Gambit _slowly pulled away from the harbor.

Paladin Casdin and Cross watched as the remaining four Brotherhood soldiers departed from the docks, getting their bearings.

Casdin was the first to start, clearing his throat. "Before we start, I'd like to introduce you to your new team, for this recon mission, you will be assigned to work together. Sarah, as senior Knight, this will be your command."

Sarah's eyes widened in surprise. Her first independent command. She never expected Casdin to entrust a mission to her, in fact, she thought that the senior Paladin hated her guts, but from his grudging smile he let her know that she was ready for it and that he trusted her.

"Thank you Paladin, I will not let you down." She saluted.

"I know you won't Sarah. I've trained you harder than any recruit Ive ever had, and I think we have a future Paladin in you."

Star Paladin Cross nodded, pointing to one of the soldiers who carried an assault rifle. "This is Initiate Kodiak, I know you're familiar with him Sarah."

"Yes Paladin Cross." Sarah nodded, remembering him from her circle of childhood friends.

"A honor to serve with you, Knight-Captain." Kodiak tilted his head in acknowledgment.

"And this," Star Paladin Cross waved her hand towards the other initiate. "Is initiate Colt, one of my pupils. I trust you met?"

"Yes, I still can't get the smell out of my armor." Sarah unconsciously wiped her shoulder.

"Sorry ma'am. Never been on a boat before, didn't even knew what the hell a boat was until today." The initiate said grudgingly.

"I can tell that I'm going to hate your guts already." Knight Sergeant Fitts sighed, before backing down as Paladin Cross gave him a hard stare.

"Now that introductions are out of the way." Casdin remarked, "It's time to brief you on the mission." The Senior Paladin unfurled a map of the area they copied from one of the computer terminals in the Citadel.

"According to our intel, the pre-war US army once used this area as an internment camp for Chinese spies and infiltrators. It was also a depot for confiscated weapons and technology, a prime ground for our salvage teams. In addition, there's also Calvert Mansion, home to a powerful pre-war family, another potential scavenge area. This is where you come in. You will scout these two locations and the surrounding area for any useful technology. Cross and I will head for the coast. The records speak of a Chinese submarine that was lost nearby. If we're in any luck, the submarine will be salvageable and be a great boon to our chapter."

Sarah and Fitts nodded, the great war and the resulting nuclear fallout had erased any reservations they had about using Chinese technology. Technology was technology, didn't matter if it came from China or the far side of the moon.

Cross added in. "You will work as a four man team to scout the area. We want to get as much knowledge of the local geography as we can. We've also received reports of suspicious activity to the North East. So you are to investigate, and haul back any technology that you can."

"Those are pretty vague orders ma'am, if you'll excuse me, you're essentially tell me to scout two locations that aren't remotely close to each othert." Knight-Captain Lyons added in.

"At your discretion Knight-Captain. Welcome to the world of independent command." Cross grinned. "We know of some pre-war technologies out here, but sketchy on details. Normally, we would assign this to a more senior Paladin, but Casdin says you're good to go."

Paladin Casdin nodded at both Sarah and Fitts.

"Scout the area, and make note of any locals or tribes in the area. Although Camp Turtledove is where you should end up. Calvert mansion would be a good place to start."

"Your will, Paladin." Sarah saluted.

"Good, now go. Cross and I will rendezvous with you tomorrow at this spot, the old Motel will be our headquarters. Now I suggest you get prepared to move, we have a long day ahead of us."

Both Cross and Casdin, veterans in their own right, nodded to each other and began disembarking north, into the foggy swamps, their heavy power armored boots slushing in the muddy grass.

* * *

The rest of the morning passed without much incident, Fitts and Sarah prepped their equipment as the rest of the squad got into line. One thing that amazed Fitts so far was the lush vegetation that was still present in the area. The nuclear fallout had reduced the Capital Wasteland to a barren desert, dry winds, dust tornadoes and tumbleweeds. Point lookout seemed to be perpetually bathed in a moist green fog, accompanied by the swamp gases and tall grass.

"So straighten me out here sir." Initiate Colt asked as the group patrolled through the tall grass. "What're we doing out here knee deep in mud."

"Whatever we want you to do Initiate. Know your place." Fitts exclaimed, pissed at the knee deep mud they were wading through. "And that's Knight-sergeant to you."

"And I thought Paladin Cross and Casdin were bad." Colt uttered quietly.

"Stow it Colt." Sarah replied. "First and foremost you are a Brotherhood soldier, start acting like one."

The Initiate mumbled to himself as he dragged his heavy equipment through the mud. Sarah meanwhile, conferred with Fitts.

"A real hot head that one. Just how in the heck did he get assigned to us." she asked, genuinely curious.

"He's our heavy weapons specialist, they're not generally known for their brains." Fitts replied. "We just need to point him in the right direction."

Sarah sighed. "Anyone tell him this is a recon mission? It's not like we're expecting any combat."

The Knight sergeant shrugged. "Can never be too sure can we Lyons?"

At this moment, Initiate Kodiak, who had volunteered to scout ahead, returned to the patrol. He had vanished through the swamps and reeds ten minutes before, taking the role of scout. Trained as a generalist, Kodiak was a jack of all trades, from explosives, sniping and spec ops, though not a master of any, but for the purposes of this mission, it suited Sarah to have him in her squad. She also knew that Kodiak was a bit of an outsider, having been adopted by the Brotherhood of Steel from the Pitt, he never quite fit in with the rest of the initiates, and she saw that distrust evident in Initiate Colt, who kept his distance.

"No active locals here sir," Kodiak began his report. "But I've found traces of their camps. Burnt out fires and makeshift beds."

"You don't have to tell us twice, no one's shot at us yet." Colt remarked.

"You almost sound disappointed there Initiate." Fitt's fell in line next to the Initiate, before gesturing Kodiak to finish his report.

"I've also spotted Calvert mansion up ahead. It's mostly intact, but no sign of any activity."

Sarah nodded, unholstering her laser rifle while Fitts did the same. "Well, we know how quickly that usually changes. How far ahead?"

"Not far Knight Captain, maybe ten minutes walk from here." Kodiak pointed eastwards, towards the end of the swampland.

"Sounds good Initiate, lead the way."

* * *

The tall grass rustled some distance behind the Brotherhood soldiers, revealing several hulking shapes in the darkness. They were dressed in old pre-war garments, coveralls, fisherman's clothes or simply torn pants and muddy boots. They watched quietly as the newcomers trespassed on their swamp. The tallest of them snorted a chuckle, it was rare for outsiders to come into their swamp, and usually the ones that did made good dinners. The _purdier_ ones were reserved for breeding, and his hungry eyes watched as one of them was a blond one, looked fiesty too he reckoned. Part of him hoped the others were as bulky as their suit of armor suggested.

"There they is, I'd reckon we eat good tonight." A small scampy looking figure pulled up beside the tall one, armed with a lever action rifle.

"They're definitely outsiders." Another one said quietly, "Good huntin' too."

"No use lettin' good meat go to waste, 'em I rite?" The scrapper slapped his knee in anticipation.

"AH gosh darnit let's get em!" A tracker swampfolk exclaimed, a hunter's axe hanging out his arm.

"They're headin to the old Calvert place. Reckon we camp out here for a while. After all, we ain't in a rush, and they gots to come back here."

"That's why your the smart one heres Obadiah. I'll pick a nice place for a big ole fire."

* * *

Calvert mansion stuck out like a sore thumb in the Maryland Wasteland, towering above the surrounding swamps and grasslands of Point Lookout. Owned previously by the famed and powerful Calvert family, it lay abandoned for almost two centuries, dilapidated and slowly being consumed by the growing marshlands surrounding it.

The four Brotherhood soldiers advanced cautiously between two rows of statues to the front door. Kodiak and Sarah, both armed with laser rifles, advanced in front while Fitts and Colt covered the rear armed with pre-war assault rifles.

Sarah raised her hands, gesturing the Brotherhood column to stop. There was no visible movement in the courtyard, but something seemed off, a soft sound echoing through the air, like dull thuds resounding from inside the house.

"Okay," Sarah began, leaning back. "Fitts, you and Colt go around back, Kodiak and I will-"

Suddenly, the intercom next to the door blared to life, jolting the four Knights.

"**YOU! you're not tribal! Get in here and help me fight these bastards off, Goddamnit!"**

"Guess that ruins your plan eh Knight-Captain?" Colt chuckled softly. "Time for the direct approach." The Knight raised his boot, and before Sarah could even utter a command, three hundred pounds of Brotherhood soldier and armor crashed through the wooden doors.

Sarah and Fitts both recognized the sounds of gunshots before the door even shattered, Kodiak and Colt scrambled to find cover, while bullets slapped off the stone and wooden foundations around them.

The center of the hall was fortified like a bunker, sandbags, spotlights and auto-turrets lined the central room, while a dozen men and women dressed in primitive tribal garbs rushed what they presumed to be the defenders. A ghoul sporting a pre-war suit and two grey dogs.

More shouts came from the second floor, and Fitts mentally gauged that the sandbag fortified area was the best spot to aim for.

"Brotherhood, into the main room!" Fitts yelled. Sarah saw no reason to countermand the order as the four soldiers rushed the pack of Tribals.

Splinters of wood flew about as more figures emerged from the walls around them, crashing through the ancient wooden fixtures with sledgehammers and makeshift weapons.

Assault rifles roared, and one of the tribal's heads blossomed into a red mist. Six more Tribals were in front of them, too focused on hunting their prey to realize four heavily armored troopers behind them.

Colt fired a burst of rounds into the shoulder of a tribal, but instead of going down, the man simply snarled and yelled something incomprehensible, charging at him with a mallet.

"What the-" Before Colt even managed to finish the sentence, he took a sledgehammer into the chest, the metal _panging_ off his power armor but even he felt his chest cave in as the man hit him with what seemed to be unnatural strength.

_Fuck this, I'm not going down from a tribal._ Colt lunged forward, cracking the man's face apart with the butt of his assault rifle, augmented by his power armor. Before the man even fell backwards, both Kodiak and Sarah disintegrated their opponents with well aimed laser blasts. While Fitts blasted the knees off of another.

It did not take long for all four knights to leap over the sandbag barrier.

"Get down!" Sarah yelled, throwing a frag grenade out as all four troops huddled behind the sandbags.

A split second later, flames hot from the center of the room, throwing bodies and debris all over the area.

The mysterious stranger backed into what appeared to be his control center, and Fitts nodded at Sarah, gesturing for the men to fall back. He took one last look at the front door. More tribals were appearing, these ones armed with an assortment of heavy weapons from miniguns to flamers. They were tougher than the standard tribals they encountered in the wasteland, even some of the supermutants. Either they were doped on drugs or simply mutated, but they way too many bullets for any normal human.

Fitts took one last scan of the lobby, now reduced to a sprawl of bodies, before checking with Sarah and the ghoul, who had gathered by a series of computer surveillance monitors.

"Don't know who you are, but you need to help me if you want to stay alive." The ghoul rasped.

"We can handle ourselves just fine, freakshow." Colt said rather gruffly.

"Watch that fucking tongue of yours kid, you're liable to lose it one day." Desmond grunted.

"Enough. What's going on here?" Sarah asked, knowing introductions were pointless under a combat situation like this.

"The damned tribals have been at it all night. I think they are just about to reach the inner walls. If we hurry, we can catch them in the act."

"I tend to side with my subordinate on this one Ghoul." Fitts said, even as the sounds of gunfire and sledgehammers echoed in the chamber from the auto turrets. "I don't see any reason these tribals can endanger us. So why should we help you instead of fighting our way out?"

Desmond grunted impatiently. "I've been around long enough to know you. Brotherhood of Steel right? Interested in pre-war tech? I know an underground bunker full of it, and it's yours if you help me out."

"Kind of convenient isn't it?" Sarah asked suspiciously.

"This bunker also happens to be guarded by my enemy, who commands this army of primitive tribals." The ghoul grunted.

"I see." Fitts nodded. "What do you think Knight-Captain? Sounds like a lead?"

"Beats trudging through the swamp." Sarah nodded. "Let's do this."

Knight Kodiak leaned against the monitors, quickly studying Desmond's schematics. "According to the pressure sensors in the mansion, we have about forty of them breaking through the walls. They're coming from the East and West wings."

"How are we going to do this?" Fitts asked, frowning at the door where the Tribals, "We don't have anywhere near enough ammunition to fight off this pack?"

"I can assist in that department." Desmond grumbled, hitting a button on the wall to reveal a compartment of pre-war weaponry. Several shotguns, assault rifles and most of all, a pre-war minigun with several boxes of 5mm ammo.

Even though no one could see his face beneath his power helmet. A single tear flickered in Colt's eyes. It was the most beautiful thing he'd seen all day. Although Colt was trained in heavy weapons, he rarely fired any in the live-ammo exercises in the Brotherhood. Ammunition was considered too sparse to train with back then, so he had to make due with repair and maintenance. Still, nothing beats the satisfaction of walking slowly into an open room with a big ass machinegun and blazing away at anything that moved. That, plus the fact that tribals tended to hug Tribals tend to hug cover like a wastelander hugs an irradiated ghoul? Beautiful.

Fitts and Sarah ignored Colt as he merrily equiped the minigun. "They'll try to flank us at once, we can split up."

"You take the west wing, and Colt and I will take the East?" Fitts suggested to Sarah and Kodiak.

"Move into each room, clear them out and seal the entrance."

"Sounds good, meet up in the lobby when the job's done." Sarah smirked, eager to get this show on the road. Both her and Kodiak rushed out the door, disappearing into the West wing.

"Colt, get your gear and let's haul ass!" Fitts yelled above the roar of gunfire.

He shouldered his laser rifle, picking up a sledgehammer that fell on the floor, while Colt happily followed with his newly acquired chaingun, belts of ammunition jingling against his metal armor as he ran. Eager to test it against the batch of tribals.

_I will call you. Vera_


	13. Chapter 13: Hunted

_Once you are able to kill mentally, the physical part will be easy. The difficult part... is learning how to turn it off. _

_- L.T  
_

**_Hunted_**

* * *

Knight Fitts wheezed as he took the Tribal in with a body check in his power armor, plastering his body into the hole in the wall. It took more effort than he expected, being in full power armor, and the tribal's face did not even seem to register pain, just a numbing calm even as his arm was snapped back unnaturally. Either they were doped on a battle stimulant like Psycho or he just felt no pain.

More bullets slapped into the walls and doorways next to Fitts, and he glanced to his side to see a group of Tribals rushing towards them, armed with axes, knives and antiquated pistols and assault rifles.

The Knight was still focused on his opponent, who clawed vainly at the power armor that Fitt's sported, his fingers already soaking with bloody as he mangled them against the metal. He heard heavy footsteps from behind, it had to be Colt, who was already rounding the corner in the hallway.

"Initiate, lay out the covering fire." Fitts breathed into his helmet radio, smashing the face of the tribal in with the butt of his assault rifle even as the Brotherhood trooper behind him started winding up the minigun.

With a mechanical whir, Colt whipped around the corner, laying a swath of killing fire down the hallway. The chain gun ripped through the ancient woodwork and plaster, scything through furniture, doors and the approaching group. Blood misted into the air as the first tribals fell back, limbs were torn apart, while some simply disintegrated into bloody clumps of flesh. No matter how good hallucinogens were, they did nothing against charging face first into the storm of bullets.

Fitts reloaded his rifle just as colt finished clearing the hallway, and the two Brotherhood troopers instinctively cleared the rooms in the wing. Kicking down the doors and mowing down any poor dumb tribals that managed to breach the perimeter. More gunfire and screams were heard on the other side of the house, and Fitts knew that Lyons and Kodiak were proceeding just fine clearing out their side of the mansion, few things could stand against four powered armored Brotherhood soldiers.

"Good work Initiate." Fitts said flatly just as they reached the end of the hallway, leaving a pile of bodies and spent shell casings behind them.

"All in a days work sir." The initiate nodded as he finished loading another chain of bullets into the minigun.

Another crash resounded upstairs, and both soldiers knew that a breach had been made.

"No use loafing around here Initiate, we're moving."

"Sir!"

* * *

Sarah swore as the fusion cell of her laser rifle died in mid-burst, the last tribal she disintegrated barely had time to fall onto the ground when another rushed her, one of the smashing the visor of her helmet with an inhuman strength that caught her off guard. The tribal, sporting a grimy face and a mohawk, shouted triumphantly as he hit her helmet again, the metal denting as the shovel hit the glass.

_These freaks are as strong as super mutants! What are they on?_

With a feral snarl, the man dropped the shovel, unsheathing a ceremonial ritual knife and raised it in the air, intending to slam it in between Sarah's throat.

"You will feed the Punga!" The tribal shouted triumphantly as he straddled Sarah. A quick jolt of pain went through the Brotherhood Knight before her instincts kicked in. Just as the tribal thrusted the knife downward, she quickly gripped the man's hand, intercepting his stab. A quick twist snapped the tribal's wrist but he showed no pain. It did not matter, as she sent a power armored fist into the man's temple, cracking his skull and sending him plastering into the wall next to him.

Sarah shook her head, struggling to remove the dented helmet as she turned to face her next assailant, a woman rushing her with a fire axe.

The Tribal barely had time to swing before her headed into a mass of blood and brain matter, covering Sarah's visor in a grim red.

Kodiak, his rifle still smoking, offered a hand to Sarah.

"You alright there Knight Captain?" The initiate offered.

"Yeah." Sarah said sternly, before finally taking off the crumpled T45d helmet, revealing her murky blonde hair and grimy face. Inwardly, she cursed herself at being so careless against a normal tribal, as Paladin Casdin said, she still had a lot of work to do before earning her Paladin rank. She would work twice as hard to show him, she swore.

"Fitts, should be done by now." Knight Lyons nodded quietly as she noticed the last dying gasps of the tribal attack whittle away in the other wing of the house. The bodies of a dozen tribals lying broken on the floor. "Let's go."

"Your will Knight captain." Initiate Kodiak said with his usual professionalism.

* * *

Before the war, Calvert mansion might have been similar to one of the luxurious southern plantation homes, the guilded halls, marble columns and fine woodwork lending an air of majesty and dignity to the area. Now, the lobby resembled a scene from a battlefield. Bullet riddled sandbag barricades, spent ammunition casings, bloodied bodies littered the otherwise gilded hallways.

Four heavily armed power armored Brotherhood Knights completed the picture, and they stood silently as their host assessed the damage.

"That's the last of 'em," Desmond whistled appreciatively at the killing power of four Brotherhood Knights.

"You're all pretty good shots…for Smoothskins that is. Maybe all those self-righteous and holy pronouncements on the Brotherhood of Steel weren't completely bullshit."

Sarah stepped forward testily, annoyed that they had spent the last hour clearing the building for this stranger without even a word of thanks.

"If that's what you have to say to the group that just saved your ass, then we'll be happy to leave the next time they show up."

To their surprise, Desmond just laugh derisively.

"You think you're all fucking heroes? I had them well in hand. Even if I didn't, I have the Failsafe if worse came to worse"

"Failsafe?" Fitts asked inquisitively.

"The type that kills everything within a four hundred foot radius, except for my safehouse." Desmond grunted. "Glad i didn't have to use it though, so there, you have my thanks."

"About the bunker..." Sarah said impatiently, getting straight to business.

"Yes about that. I lied, not a fucking clue where it is." Desmond gave a slight smirk.

Colt and Kodiak quickly levelled their rifles at the Ghoul, just as pissed off as Sarah and Fitts were, but they were cut short as Desmond produced a holodisk for the pair.

"The fuck is this supposed to be?" Fitts growled as he watched the Ghoul, the pair of dogs, seeing their master threatened, gave a low growl.

Fitts raised an eyebrow at that. "How the fuck would you know that?"

"I deal in Information." Desmond rasped. "Most reliable currency. I wasn't lying when i said these tribals are guarding a bunker, but I'm still in the dark as to where it is. Best place i could think of is the Arc and Dove Cathedral two miles north of here, the Tribals seem to be using it as a base."

"And the Holodisk?" Sarah demanded.

The Ghoul smirked again. "Call it, a gift. I left a few codes that you should find useful back in D.C, important installations and what not."

"Seems awfully generous of you." Fitts said suspiciously, just as he took the holodisk from the Ghoul.

In fact, Desmond knew, it wasn't, the codes were for installations that would no doubt have been plundered long ago, but if it took the Brotherhood off his back, it was worth every cap.

"Now, that should help you when you get back, but if you're interested in some more local technology, i can only point you towards the Cathedral and the tribals."

The Brotherhood Knights turned to each other for a second, Sarah saying what was already on everyone's mind.

"Let someone else be your lap dog. As far as we're concerned, we're done here."

Fitts nodded. "Yeah, let's not waste any more of our time."

"Then get the fuck out of home." Desmond said gruffly, before turning back to start cleaning up the debris in the mansion.

"Happy to oblige."

Fitts and Sarah turned, and the two initiates followed.

"Nice hair by the way Sarah." Even filtered through the helmet, it did little to hide the Knight's sarcasm.

"Shut up Fitts." Sarah grumbled, she didn't like it when she lost a piece of her equipment, it left her vulnerable.

* * *

They had made camp later that day, just outside the swamp. Fitts and Sarah made sure to re-establish contact with Casdin and Cross as they set up a perimeter around the camp. No campfires were lit, not wanting to draw attention from the local population as they worked.

"Any luck on your end?" Casdin's voice said firmly through the radio.

"We've managed to obtain a piece of pre-war intel on D.C installations." Sarah replied back. "can't verify it with our equipment, but I'll give it to the scribes to double check."

A slight pause on the other end before Casdin replied again. "Good work Knight-Captain, much more than what Cross and I found on our end. Meet back at the Pier tomorrow, I'll signal the ferry to pick us up. Until then, stay alert."

"As always Paladin Casdin, Lyon's Pride out." Sarah replied, just as she turned off the radio.

"Lyon's Pride?" Fitts asked curiously as he watched Sarah reply with a smirk on her face.

"Figured our squad would have to be called something."

"I don't believe we ever had a vote on this." Fitts protested.

"I like it." Initiate Colt said through the radio.

"Shut it Colt. For that, you get first watch." Fitts said in annoyance.

"Watch out Knight Fitts," Sarah said playfully, "Or i may just have to remove your Knight-Sergeant stripes and hand it to the newie."

"Steel preserve us if that ever happens." Fitts frowned.

* * *

The Swampfolk came later that night, their presence announced by a huge yelp as several dozen of them bursted through the perimeter. They were different from the tribals, they seemed human, but overall sported a grotesque appearance, possibly poisoned with radiation and generations of inbreeding. Whatever the case, they scared the hell out of initiate colt.

"We got contact!" Colt yelped in panic as the grinning hicks charged him, some armed with axes and shotguns, while others came in with their fists, their arms swelling with lumps of deformed flesh. Kodiak had already started firing his assault rifle, knocking down several of the more eager swamp folk while the skinnier ones fell back, firing buckshots at the Brotherhood knights with their shotguns.

"There they is!" The leader of the pack, a large imposing brute of a man, shouted in excitement as more than a dozen of them emerged from the woods, some so jubilant they fired their shotguns in the air in anticipation.

Fitts turned in surprise as one of the Brawlers slammed him into the ground, the mud soaking into the joints and servos of his power armor. To his surprise, the brute was strong, even with the augmented power armor he was weighing him down. Mutation and inbreeding may not have done wonders for their intellect, but it gifted them in terms of raw strength.

He punched the mutant in the face, but the man laughed incoherentlys, headbutting Fitts to keep him down. Kodiak, occupied with the skinnier swamp folk, signalled to Colt to move.

The Power armored initiate took up his mini gun, whirring it to life as he prepared to scythe down the attackers.

Only to have a swampfolk bury his axe into the minigun's barrels. Before a shot got off, the entire weapon was ruined, the axe wielding mutant already lunging towards Colt, encumbered by the now useless mini gun.

Colt however, was faster, and he dropped the weapon as soon as the axe hit, stepping backwards so the swampfolk swung on empty air.

Unholstering his side arm, a pre-war AEP7, Colt fired it straight at the Swamp folk's face, the man screamed as his flesh sizzled from the shot.

"You Bastard." Colt stepped foward, firing more shots at the brute as he fell backwards. "That. Was. My. Favourite. Gun." Each word ended with another shot into the man's torso, until finally, his body disintegrated into a pile of ash.

"A little help here!" Protector Fitts shouted as the Brute managed to overpower his defense, the joints and mechanical servos of the power armor whinned in protest as the Mutated swampfolk simply overwhelmed him.

"Hey ugly!" a voice sounded from behind, and the swampfolk turn his head just in time to see the sharp blade of an axe take him in the eyes. To Initiate colt's surprise, instead of dying, the man howled in rage, axe still lodged in his eyes as he blindly threw himself at the Brotherhood initiate. The two tumbled down in the mud, just as Fitts reached for Colt's fallen side arm. The initiate, not wanting to waste more time on this swampfolk, punched the axe deeper into the man's brain, the brute gave one last gurgle, before collapsing onto the ground.

Fitts meanwhile, had his own issues as more brawlers charged him, and the Brotherhood Knight fired into the pack, taking each down with a well aimed shot.

Sarah found herself was pinned against a tree, her arms held up by the leader of the pack of swampfolk. She put up a fight, as the empty assault rifle and three corpses around them attested.

Obadiah's eyes lit up as he watched the Brotherhood Knight lustily, his grip tight on her wrists as he almost lifted her off the ground.

"I've had my eye on you for some days missy." The Swampfolk licked his lips in anticipation, almost bringing his face down to get a whiff of Sarah's blonde hair. "You put a gud fight, but now, imma gonna have fun wit you for a long time."

"Sorry, you're not my type." Sarah grunted, managed to lift her leg up and delivering a power armored kick into the man's crouch. The swamp man gave out a high pitched whinny just as he collapsed onto the ground.

Sarah scrambled to the ground, trying to find something, anything she could use as a weapon. in the distance, the assault rifle of Kodiak was still firing, while the shouts and screams of other mutated swamp folk told Sarah she was alone for now.

"Yur gonna pay for that." Obadiah snarled as he pummeled Sarah at the side of her head with his fist. The man's strength was unbelieveable and Sarah found her world spinning as she went down onto the ground, weapon dropping at her side. Obadiah smiled as he brought up the Sledgehammer he had been carrying, raising it above his head.

"Maybe if i break one o' yur legs, you'll be more cooperatin'." The swampfolk chuckled.

"Sarah!" Fitts shouted just as he put the Swampfolk he and Colt had been fighting down with a shot, he tried desperately to get a shot off, but by the time he swung around he knew it would be too late.

A shot rang out from the darkness, and within that split second, everything seemed to slow down. Obadiah held the sledgehammer up, before finally dropping it behind him. His arms feeling his chest around the large hole that was blasted through his solar plexus.

Initiate Colt smirked as he fired the second shot of the double barrelled shotgun, this one taking the head off of the ring leader. Obadiah's corpse shuddered a bit, before unceremoniously crumpling to the ground.

"You alright there Knight-Captain?" Initiate Colt asked, just as the firing died down in the distance, the swamp folk retreating with their leader dead.

"Yeah...how did you manage to get another weapon in the confusion?" Sarah asked.

"Got a scent for guns, even in the dark ma'am." The initiate shrugged, but still proud of his work.

One last shot in the distance and another yelp signalled that Kodiak had finished his work with the swampfolk.

"Knight-Captain." Kodiak replied over the radio. "This sector's clear. What's our orders?"

"We're heading out of here." Sarah said firmly. "No more use staying in this useless swamp. We'll find more tech at the Capital, as the ghoul said."

"Your Will, Knight captain. Kodiak reporting back." The Initiate replied back at the other end of the transmission.

As the Brotherhood soldiers began packing up camp, scavenging the corpses for more ammo and weapons, Fitts tapped Colt on the shoulder.

"Colt, forget Lyon's Pride, I'm promoting you to Knight Sergeant of Fitt's Posse."

"Just the demotion I've been waiting for sir..." Initiate Colt smirked trudging off with Fitts to join the rest of the squad.

* * *

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"Quite a story." Defender Farsight said in wonder, the Chapter had a deeper and richer history in the Capital Wasteland than she thought. The fire cackled again, and her thoughts were once again grounded back in the ruined city of D.C, far from the lush green swamplands of Point Lookout. hard to believe that there was still some place green and lush around here.

"All in the past now Defender." Fitts said gruffly.

"How does it...feel sir? Knowing that they are now on the other side?" Farsight had only just been promoted when the schism happened, always the lone wolf and never really connected with the other members of the expedition.

"To tell you the truth, it's hard at first, but it gets easier with each day." The Protector sad flatly. _Still, is that even supposed to be right?_

"They'll see in time." Fitts said, "It won't ever come to that. That makes our mission even more important. And with this." Fitts flashed the holodisk, the same one he had managed to retrieve from Desmond on their first patrol, towards Farsight. "It'll make our job even easier."

"Hope you're right sir." Farsight said softly, she looked towards Fitts, staring blankly into the fire. The Protector was distant, lost in his own thoughts, and Farsight hesitated, wondering whether she should say something.

"We'll talk again in the morning Farsight, get some sleep." Fitts nodded, realizing the long awkward silence, he got up, just as he heard the rustling of dirt as Defender Kesler finished his shift. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

In the distance, on the a ruined bridge, another figure, his black armor melting into the night, watched with interest at the squad that took up refuge at the former Super Mutant hide out.

"Well, lookie here boys, I think it's time we give those Outcast bastards a bit of payback, wouldn't you say?"

Sergeant Clifton, his wounds from the battle of Fairfax still fresh on his arm, licked his lips in relish as he watched the three man squad make camp below. Behind him, two dozen members of Talon Company, armed to the teeth, grinned with their commander.

The hunt was on.

* * *

Author's note: Sorry for the abrupt ending, but i had writer's block for the longest time with this story. Part of it being that i had absolutely no interest in writing about the Brotherhood's adventure in Point Lookout when this fic has been about the Outcasts. So it's back to the Capital Wasteland, and more stuff with Casdin and the rest of the squad :)


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